


Who's a Good Boy?

by papillonoir



Category: X1 (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Comedy, Fluff, Humor, Magic, Mating Season, puppy seungseok, seungseok, seungyoun has bad luck, shiba inu seungyoun, sorcerer Hangyul, wooseok turns into a puppy too, youtuber wooseok
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:14:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 45,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23343040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/papillonoir/pseuds/papillonoir
Summary: In which Lee Hangyul is secretly a wizard’s son who is bad at controlling his magic, Nam Dohyon is Hangyul’s whiny foster brother, Cho Seungyoun is their annoying neighbour who wouldn’t stop teasing Dohyon, and Kim Wooseok is an aspiring Youtuber and a quiet, mysterious classmate whom Seungyoun just wants to be friends with, yet unfortunately hates Seungyoun after a series of coincidences and mishaps.One day, Hangyul decided that he had had enough of listening to Dohyon’s endless whines about Seungyoun. Yes, for once he was going to use his magic for the right thing – turning Seungyoun into a good boy. Except that instead of turning into an actual good boy, miraculously, the loud guy transformed into a dog – a good, adorable, fluffy Shiba Inu.In the midst of his aimless venture as a whole different kind of creature, Seungyoun was found and taken as a pet by none other than his favourite classmate who hates him, Kim Wooseok.
Relationships: Cho Seungyeon | Seungyoun/Kim Wooseok | Wooshin
Comments: 19
Kudos: 63





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, this is my first Seungseok fic and it's a chaotic one :D this man-turned-animal/pet concept has been used a lot in fanfics, but there may be some fun improvisation along the way. Enjoy! ^^v

* * *

Cho Seungyoun was often misunderstood. He swore he was a good guy; why did the universe always lead him into ambiguous situations wherein people witnessed him do stuff that seemed questionable at the wrong moments? More importantly, why did it have to be Kim Wooseok who was always there to witness that? His favourite classmate, of all people. The pretty guy’s reserved demeanor and his cool vibe had intrigued Seungyoun ever since he had first walked into his class – and of course his stylish, fashionable appearance that complemented his adorable, _adorable_ face, but Seungyoun would rather not go _that_ way, considering that he could get whipped quite easily if he wasn’t careful enough.

They hadn’t even gotten the chance to talk properly and get acquainted, but the universe did its magic of coincidental encounters and bad timing combo, and showed Wooseok misleading scenes that made him believe; Cho Seungyoun was no good guy. So much for a first impression.

Like the first time they ran into each other at a store by chance, just the second day of the fall semester. Seungyoun was browsing through racks of sanitary pads, holding his phone to his ear, wearing a very confused look on his face.

“Mum, wait—Yes, I’m looking at them right now. There are _lots_ of them, which one do I choose?” the tall young male asked the person at the other end.

_“Pick the big ones! It’s your sister’s first period, we need a lot of the big ones!”_ His mother answered excitedly.

One of Seungyoun’s eyebrows arched. “Do you mean the big packages or… the big… pads?”

_“Both, pick the long pads in big packages!”_

Seungyoun began to feel a hint of discomfort and heat spreading on the side of his face. His eyes instinctively flicked over to the side to find a small old lady stealing glances at him.

“Ahh… Haha, okay, okay, I got them!” Trying to ignore the lady, he cracked an awkward laugh as he grabbed four big packages of menstrual pads and clumsily dropped them into his shopping cart. The tips of his ears were gradually turning redder.

“Do you need anything else, Mum? No? Okay, no problem! See you at auntie’s house, Mum, love you!” Seungyoun ended the call quickly and shoved his phone into the pocket of his grey hoodie, his cheeks puffing out as he blew out a big sigh.

_I’m such a good son, aren’t I? I do anything Mum asks me to, even though it’s for a cousin whose big brother is lazing around at home right now. Yes, I’m a reliable son. This is not embarrassing at all!_

A big awkward smile was plastered on the college student’s face as he pushed his cart down the alley, towards the lady, who was still side-eyeing him with a questionable smile.

And then it happened; from his peripheral sight, he saw a stack of diapers on the top shelf leaning forward at a dangerous angle as the lady tried to grab a pack underneath. So he left his cart quickly and reached his long arm up to hold the stack in place, practically trapping the lady between his big body and the shelf. A sharp gasp jumped out of the woman.

“What are you doing?!” she pushed Seungyoun by the chest and began to smack him violently with her purse.

While being utterly shocked and helplessly trying to cover himself, the young guy’s gaze was somehow drawn to the end of the alley. There was a lean, pretty guy standing there, watching with curious eyes.

It was Kim Wooseok, who had witnessed him cornering an old lady like those clichèd scenes in Korean dramas.

“Ma’am, are you okay?” The cool and composed Wooseok came to the rescue.

The lady huffed and glared at the dumbstruck, taller one of the two males. “I can’t believe young men these days, trying to harrass an old lady??”

“I-I-I—”

Cat got Seungyoun’s tongue.

Wooseok shot his new classmate a look of disapproval. “I’m sorry about that. I believe this guy is in my class, I’ll take care of this for you.”

Though seeming unsatisfied yet with beating Seungyoun up, the woman opted to walk away with her chin high in the air, her heels tapping furiously against the pristine white floor. Seungyoun had his mouth opening and closing in a failed attempt to summon any proper words.

Cho Seungyoun was normally clever with his mouth. He was almost _never_ at a loss of words. But when this sassy-looking guy stood in front of him, with his head cocked and his arms crossed over his chest waiting for an explanation, suddenly Seungyoun was intimidated by his bold aura to the point that he felt much tinier than the physically smaller guy.

“I… didn’t mean… it.” He managed to breathe out, blinking dumbly. “S-Sorry.”

“Please control yourself.”

Wooseok walked away, and their first interaction ended just like that. No friendly introduction whatsoever.

Seungyoun was upset with himself.

“I didn’t do anything wrong, did I? Why did I let them misunderstand my intention? People always misunderstand me.” He pouted dejectedly as he walked back home later that day, after dropping off the pads at his aunt’s house, head down and shoulders hunched forward. He kicked a small rock with the tip of his shoe without even using a tiny bit of extra force, yet it flew far away and crashed on a long leg.

“Why are you attacking me?”

Seungyoun lifted his head. His pout was instantly replaced by a goofy smile as soon as he saw the person in front of him.

“Nam Dohyon! Why are you here?” He threw himself at the equally tall boy in a junior high school uniform, squeezing him and then proceeding to knead his chubby cheeks like a dough.

“Because this is my home?” The younger swatted the hands off his face and shot an unamused look. “Stop that, hyung, I’m not a baby anymore.”

Only when Seungyoun turned his head to his left, did he realize that he had arrived at the house right next to his. Yes, Nam Dohyon was his neighbour, a fifteen-year-old boy who was soon going to grow bigger than the big guy Seungyoun himself.

To be frank, Seungyoun considered Dohyon’s family kind of weird and fishy. As a child, Dohyon had been adopted by a couple with one troublemaker of a son, who then had become his big brother. Seungyoun was casual friends with the said big brother too, his name was Lee Hangyul. An absurd, good-looking boy who was just one year younger than him. In the past few years, Hangyul had taken over the role as Dohyon’s parent. Seungyoun could literally count with his fingers how many times their parents had returned home. In fact, he hadn’t seen them around for nearly a year. Hangyul had stopped going to school since then. Seungyoun wasn’t sure if those two boys were being abandoned, but they didn’t seem to be sad about it. Not that they’d ever openly talked about it.

“Ah, I was spacing out along the way.” Seungyoun laughed and threw an arm around his neighbour’s shoulders. His eyes then fell on the cup of honey fried chicken pops in the other’s hand. “Oh, chicken!” Stomach rumbling ferociously, he allowed himself to steal a piece of Dohyon’s food and popped it into his mouth.

“Ah, hyung!!” Dohyon whined at the sight of his chicken being chewed in the older’s smiling mouth. “That was the biggest piece!”

“Sharing is caring! Give some to your starving hyung, will you?” Seungyoun snatched another piece of chicken before running away to his own home, laughing his high-pitched laugh like a maniac.

“Aish.” Dohyon pouted at his food. There were only three pieces left. “I was going to share with Hangyul hyung, but if I share these, I will be starving to death. I’m sorry, hyung. Chicken doesn’t define my love for you.”

The young teenager shoved all three pieces of chicken into his squirrel cheeks and disposed the empty cup into the trash outside the house.

_Poof!_

“W-Whoa!” In a blink of an eye, Dohyon was no longer standing outside the house, but instead in the kitchen. Still with full cheeks, he shook his head and rubbed his eyes with his fists, feeling dizzy after the unexpected instant travel through space. A husky chuckle came from a certain muscular boy who was looking into a big saucepan on the stove, stirring the content with a ladle, cooking something that smelled much more delicious than Dohyon’s chicken. Only his broad back could be seen. He was wearing a black apron over a plain white shirt, his long sleeves rolled up to his elbows, exposing his toned forearms.

“Oh—Hey, Hangyul hyung.” Dohyon munched his food quickly and pushed it down his throat so he could flash an innocent grin.

“Hi.” The older boy turned around revealing a charming, gentle smile of a big brother. The model husband aura that he gave off was much stronger from the front view. The sharp features of his perfectly sculpted face were on full display as his short dark brown hair was out of the way, his bangs pushed up with some gel. “I thought I should cook you something nice, but it looks like you’re full already.”

Hangyul lifted his arm and reached his hand out towards the kitchen counter. Magically, faint purple light and twinkling periwinkle dust appeared around the tips of his fingers – under his control, a piece of napkin arose from the tissue box and floated through the air until it stopped in front of Dohyon’s face. The napkin moved on its own, wiping the brown honey stain left on the corner of the baffled boy’s lips.

After gawking in awe for a good minute, Dohyon broke into squeals and erratic applause like a happy baby seal. “…Whoa! Hyung, you’ve mastered that trick!”

Shrugging smugly, Hangyul twirled his index finger in the air and blew off the remaining shiny dust off the tip.

Apart from his parents and his foster brother, nobody knew what Lee Hangyul was inherently capable of. It wasn’t like anyone would buy it if he went around telling people that his father was a wizard and he inherited some sort of magical power that he was still learning to control. He didn’t live in a Harry Potter book after all.

Suddenly aware that his big brother knew about his snack, which he had failed to share, Dohyon stuck out his bottom lip into a pout. “It was Seungyoun hyung again! He stole my chicken, so I didn’t have enough to share with you… I-I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, I wasn’t expecting you to bring me food anyway.” Hangyul chuckled and went back on getting busy with the stew he was cooking. “You know your hyung doesn’t get upset about food, right?”

“Well, you don’t get upset, but I get upset.” Dohyon huffed. “I could have eaten those two juicy big pieces of chicken if you didn’t want them. Why does he always steal my food?” Angry flames ignited in his eyes. “He also pulls on my cheeks a lot, it hurts when he does that! He’ll make my face even rounder if he doesn’t stop. Do you see this, hyung? I think my cheeks are looser than they were yesterday. They’re going to fall off.”

Being a mature one, Hangyul opted to just laugh off the younger’s whines. He had no other choice but to listen anyway. After all, it was his own fault that they were living as _temporary_ orphans at the moment.

Right, them being parentless was all the result of his mere clumsiness with his magic.

Later, after feeding Dohyon, Hangyul went up to the balcony, where a big white birdcage was standing proud. It was big enough for at least five birds, but there were only a pair of charming white doves inside.

Hangyul sighed as he left some bird feed inside the cage.

“Wait a bit more, Mum, Dad. I’ll find a way to turn you back to normal.”

That was what he had always said every day ever since ten months back.

Meanwhile, in the house next door, a particular twenty-year-old college student perched in his seat with one knee up supporting his elbow, wearing an oversized white shirt, a pair of loose pants, and a pair of nerdy thick-rimmed glasses, biting on his nail as he intently stared at his laptop screen. It was the only source of light in his room, apart from the yellow desk lamp that lit up his intrigued face.

_“As I promised last week, today I’m going to do ASMR! I was wondering, what should I use for a nice ASMR? Since eating ASMR has been done a lot, I figured out I should try something different. So, for today, I’ve prepared cooking ASMR! Ta-da!”_

Seungyoun’s eyes curved into crescents as he let out an adoring giggle. The guy on the screen; he found him so cute, so adorable and endearing. So different from the cold guy he had run into at the store earlier. But that handsome small face, that neatly styled brown hair, and those round glasses; he was definitely the same person. It wasn’t a surprising discovery, though. He was in the same class as Seungyoun after all, majoring in Communication. Most of the students were excellent at speaking, and thus at spreading _news_ too – that was how Seungyoun had found out about his classmate’s unspoken work.

The Youtube channel was named _Seok’s FooDiary;_ basically about food and his daily life. It wasn’t one that had millions of subscribers. In fact, it had barely reached two thousand subscribers. Which was already an impressive achievement, Seungyoun had to say. He wasn’t sure if he himself could achieve that much if he were to open his own Youtube channel. No, he wasn’t so dedicated to things like that. A Youtube channel run by Seungyoun would most likely look like a collection of his random cover videos, recorded just with his phone, wherein he sang to random songs bare-faced in his pajamas. Wooseok wasn’t laid-back like that; in his videos, he was always dressed in his best clothes, and a thin, natural layer of make-up was always applied on his face. From the latest contents, it was also clear that he had upgraded his recording equipment, which could be seen from the pretty much improved quality. He was so invested in all that stuff. Since there weren’t that many contents yet, Seungyoun just knew that the channel was going to get more and more attention once the new Youtuber published more videos.

Two minutes into the video, Seungyoun grew curious about what people had to say – he scrolled down to the comment section and found ninety six comments, which mostly complimented the Youtuber’s cute face and stylish outfit. He was wearing a baggy, navy blue and red Valentino denim jacket over a dragonfly print black button-up shirt, which Seungyoun had seen somewhere at a high-end mall. Many other comments addressed how cute and funny his ASMR was. The rest suggested some ideas for his next content.

_Yeah, his style is pretty cool,_ Seungyoun thought, agreeing to the majority of the comments.

As if the video was an important material for his study, Seungyoun watched closely as Wooseok placed a piece of dried fish fillet in a mini frying pan, pressing it with a tong to get a satisfying hissing sound out. He tilted the ASMR microphone down, closer to the pan, so the sound was much clearer.

“Oh, that doesn’t sound too bad,” Seungyoun commented. He plugged in his earphones to enjoy the sound better. “Ah, it makes me sleepy, though. Do people listen to this to help them sleep?”

Things were all nice and enjoyable to Seungyoun, until Wooseok brought his lips to the microphone and began to whisper.

_“Sleep… Deep sleep… Sleeeep…”_

“Hah! Ahahah! What is this?!” Seungyoun’s drowsy eyes then opened wide as he hugged himself, feeling a funny wave of goosebumps go through his body. His face twisted from smiling to cringing to laughing and then cringing again in a matter of seconds.

_“Sleeeeeep…”_

“Haaa! NO!”

The tall guy yanked his earphones off and tossed himself away as if his head had been caught on fire, flying high and landing in an ungraceful kneeling position in his bed. He smashed his head onto his pillow to muffle his dramatic scream, while on the laptop screen, Wooseok was busy coughing and waving his hands about to get rid of the smoke coming from his burnt fish fillet.

Well, in conclusion, Seungyoun’s first time watching an ASMR video – by Kim Wooseok – left quite a _strong_ impression on him. He didn’t know if he could watch another one any time soon.

The next day, Seungyoun could think of nothing but the whispers when he saw Wooseok in class.

_Sleep… Deep sleep…_

He shuddered in his seat.

No, it wasn’t that Seungyoun thought it was awful. It just made him feel… _funny_ , perhaps. To have the cold guy Kim Wooseok whisper right in his ears…

Well, in a way, it made him even more eager to befriend the seemingly reserved guy. Actually, somehow Seungyoun believed it was just what Wooseok _seemed_ to be; maybe he’d find some fun surprises if he could get to know the chic guy personally. He was silent most of the time in class, but that didn’t mean he was a loner who had no friends. Seungyoun noticed that Wooseok smiled and laughed quite often when his small group of friends were there, who mostly consisted of females. Pretty and fashionable ones, just like Wooseok himself. Not something that really stood out in their type of class – maybe it was just the laid-back students like Seungyoun who were underdressed.

He wondered if any of those girls was Wooseok’s girlfriend.

Having the total opposite charm, Seungyoun was loud with his friends. Many female friends too, but they were like a different breed from Wooseok’s group; they just gave no extra effort to be graceful in their behaviour. Seungyoun liked his circle that way. Wild and free.

That day, the class was divided into a few groups for a project. Seungyoun liked group projects. His vibrant presence helped ideas flow freely onto the table, helping not only the group, but also himself to feel like he was useful enough. Before they knew it, time had passed, and the class was dismissed.

Seungyoun had completely forgotten to keep an eye on Wooseok. The moment he snapped his head to where Wooseok had been sitting with his group, he only found empty seats.

“Oh, man. Did they just teleport or something?” Seungyoun packed his things up hurriedly and slung his grey backpack on one shoulder. After quickly saying goodbye to his friends, the clumsy guy ran for the exit, tripping and bumping some chairs in the process.

It wasn’t just about casually approaching Wooseok and trying to be friends with him. Well, it was his motive too, yes, he was a social butterfly. But the more urgent mission was to explain himself and clear the misunderstanding about the old lady incident. There was no way Seungyoun would let himself get labelled as a licentious pervert with no self control, because he wasn’t one.

They were outside the campus building when Seungyoun finally spotted the familiar head of soft brown hair and the maroon varsity jacket that he had seen in class. Wooseok was walking with two girls through the campus’ park, making their way out the area. As if a switch had been flicked in his head, suddenly Seungyoun dashed towards the park as fast as he could. He didn’t know why he was _that_ determined – he ran through the grass area which had a big sign, _“Do not step on the grass”,_ and leaped over a bush like a mighty horse, taking shortcuts to get to Wooseok faster.

“Kim Wooseok, wait!!”

Not so easy, the universe said. The second time he jumped over a bush, he landed into another mishap, and again, witnessed by Kim Wooseok.

Seungyoun crashed on a girl and sent them both down in a dramatic motion that ended up in a very _wrong_ scene, with him stradling the girl, his hands holding his weight, trapping her shocked face in between.

“What the hell are you doing to my girlfriend, dude?!”

Meters away, Wooseok and his female friends had to wince and cover their faces as Seungyoun helplessly tried to explain while a furious, equally big guy beat his ass.

“Isn’t that Cho Seungyoun?” One of Wooseok’s friend asked, “The loud guy in our class?”

“Yeah.” Wooseok looked askance at his poor, misunderstood classmate. “Stay away from him, he’s a pervert.”

They turned and continued their way like they hadn’t witnessed anything, leaving Seungyoun and his high-pitched howl in the background.

“Kim Wooseok! Waaaait!”

It felt like déjà vu. Seungyoun walked home with his head down and his shoulders hunched forward, a pout on his then bruised face. He ran into Dohyon again.

“Nam Dohyon! Why are you here? Oh, wait, I’m here already.” He realized his reliable feet had led him home on autopilot again, just like the day before.

This time, Dohyon wasn’t holding a cup of chicken pops, but a chocolate cake that was half eaten. Seungyoun felt the urge to snatch the cake and shove it into his mouth, for a dose of chocolate that he desperately needed in order not to cry – so he did.

“HYUNG!!” Dohyon broke into incoherent dolphin screeches at the sight of his older neighbour swallowing his whole cake. “YOU—YOU DIDN’T LEAVE ME ANY!”

“I’m _sowwy_!” Seungyoun said with full cheeks. The remnant of the chocolate cake was still left on his bottom lip – Dohyon stared at it like it was his dead lover.

Seungyoun gulped down the stolen cake and grinned, showing off his chocolate-stained teeth. “Hyung will buy you one next time to pay for that! I had a hard time today, but your cake makes me feel better now. It’s so good! Thank you, Dohyonie~ You’re so generous!”

After pinching and kneading the life out of Dohyon’s face, the older neighbour skipped his way to his own house so cheerfully. Once again Dohyon let out a broken dolphin screech.

“But I am not generous!”

He messed his hair and stomped around.

_Poof!_

“Why is he so annoying?!”

“Nam Dohyon. What did I tell you about throwing a tantrum outside the house?”

Dohyon stopped stomping and blinked, realizing that he was not outside anymore, but in the kitchen. His big brother wasn’t cooking this time. Instead, Hangyul was sitting at the dining table, his chin propped up in his hand, one eyebrow arched and lips pulled into a lopsided smile. In front of him were already served a big bowl of steaming hot ramyeon and another bowl of spicy rice cakes. Dohyon had to wipe his drool with the back of his hand.

“…The neighbours will see it and think hyung doesn’t feed me,” the junior high school student answered the question, in a way that made it sound he had memorized it all his life.

“Exactly.” Hangyul nodded and rubbed his chin. “Do I feed you?”

“You do, a _lot_.” Dohyon didn’t hold back from dropping his butt into the seat across the older boy and dig in as soon as Hangyul pushed the dishes towards him. He proceeded to stuff his mouth while complaining about the shameless college student next door.

“He stole my food again! It was a cake from Eunsang hyung, since he ate my cake too last week, but the cake from him was much more _heavenly!”_ Dohyon groaned and threw his hands up in agony. “Seungyoun hyung said he’d buy me another one to pay for it, but he’s said that so many times before and none of my stolen food comes back to me. I’d be swimming in food if he ever returns everything! And you know what, hyung? He tortured my face again after stealing my cake! Why can’t he leave me alone??”

Hangyul wiped his face and sighed into his big palm, feeling his ears burn and his temples start to throb. It wasn’t just the second time Dohyon complained about Seungyoun, heck, it was probably the ten thousandth time. Growing up together as neighbours for more than half a decade, Seungyoun had always managed to find ways to tease and piss Dohyon off, although he had never meant it that way. Then that Dohyon was fifteen years old and more emotionally unstable than ever, the frequency of his ranting was rapidly escalating. Hangyul felt like a single father raising a difficult teenage daughter. It was a good thing that he didn’t have to deal with boys and period problems too.

“Hyung, do something about him. Can’t you do your magic on him? Make him a quiet loner or something,” Dohyon whined. “Anything will do as long as he doesn’t touch my face and steal my food.”

“I can’t just do that. Remember what I did to Mum and Dad?” Hangyul massaged his temple. Dohyon fell silent. “I’m trying to be careful with my magic if it involves a living thing. Seungyoun hyung _is_ a living thing.”

“He’s a living inconvenience,” the younger mumbled.

“Even if it works, you’re going to miss him anyway.”

“No way.”

A gentle smirk played on Hangyul’s lips as his younger brother crossed his arms and sulked. The truth was, Hangyul could barely say no to what Dohyon asked for – even though he didn’t say yes either. Well, if he had to be honest, he was secretly considering the request.

“You won’t ever be able to turn Mum and Dad back to normal if you’re too scared to use your magic, hyung. Just turn him into a good boy. What could go wrong?”

* * *

_“So, we’re finally here, everyone! Can you guys hear all those barking sounds? Whoa, I’m getting really excited. It’s been a while we haven’t played with dogs. Right, Yohan?”_

_“Right! I love dogs! I really want to adopt one, but sadly I don’t have enough time to take care of it.”_

_“Wah~ That’s unfortunate. I can totally relate, busy student life! So, why don’t we get in now and play with those cute dogs to release our stress?”_

_“Let’s go!”_

Seungyoun giggled to himself. Both of his ears were stuffed with his earphones, his phone held horizontally in his hand, one leg crossed over the other as he sat comfortably in his seat, on a bus ride to the campus. He had been on a Youtube marathon since the night before, and he had gone to sleep feeling both tired and satisfied like he had accomplished something so big by watching all of _Seok’s FooDiary_ ’s videos. Well, not all, actually, because that morning a new video was uploaded. Seungyoun had opened it as soon as the notification had popped up on top of his phone screen.

Right, of course he had already subscribed to the channel. With a second account that he named _Woodzdnwm_. He had even followed the Youtuber on Instagram. Seungyoun had snickered when he had seen the username; _@woo.ddadda,_ a cute username for a cute guy.

No, Seungyoun wasn’t whipped. Not at all. It was all just for _research_ purposes, he assured himself. Yes, to get to know his personality better. And maybe some things in common so they could get along.

One obvious thing was that Wooseok liked to dress up. He liked fashion. So, for once, that morning Seungyoun wasn’t going out in his favorite hoodie and beanie combo. He had dug his closet and found a brown and black leather varsity jacket that his mother had bought him for his nineteenth birthday last year. So that was what he was wearing then, with a plain black shirt underneath, and a pair of black ripped jeans and brown retro sneakers to match his jacket. His outfit concept pretty much matched the breezy autumn that had arrived quite early that year, as some of the greens outside were starting to turn yellow and orange. He had also put some gel in his black hair that was starting to grow out, pushing his bangs out of the way, but then a few strands had fallen back over his forehead.

Seungyoun absolutely looked like a different person just by dressing up properly, a model material who could get some girls on the bus to keep glancing at him, but he couldn’t care less. It wasn’t Seungyoun-like to try and look like something else out of the usual, especially for a person whom he wasn’t even close with. But he figured out, he should try some different ways to make Wooseok let him come near. Since apparently the cute Youtuber was intentionally avoiding him for some reasons.

All of Wooseok’s friends were stylish. Even the one in his latest video. So maybe Seungyoun could try and blend in for the first step – not that he would change his comfy style permanently.

The other guy in the video was Wooseok’s younger friend, a nineteen-year-old boy named Kim Yohan, who had been featured a couple of times in his videos before. He was a giggly and good-looking one, showing his adorable bunny teeth every so often as he laughed at the smallest things. By his side, Wooseok seemed to be absorbing his bright, positive energy. He simply looked like a much happier person; his smile was wider and his voice was slightly higher than usual. That was the most noticeable difference between the rest of his videos and the ones featuring Yohan. It piqued Seungyoun’s curiosity.

The bus stopped at Seungyoun’s destination when Wooseok and Yohan were each holding a Terrier puppy close to the camera; a white one in Wooseok’s hands, and a brown one in Yohan’s. Seungyoun noticed that Wooseok had all his ten slender fingers wrapped firmly around the puppy’s small body.

“Aren’t you choking it?” He mumbled and giggled as he slung his bag over his shoulder and got off the bus.

Since he had to walk for several hundred meters from the bus stop to the campus area, Seungyoun paused the video and switched to a music player app, playing a slow R’n’B song so he could enjoy his fun walk. It’d be dangerous to walk while staring at the phone, as his dear mother said.

As the saying goes, mother knows best. Seungyoun felt happy that he was an obedient son, when in the distance he saw two familiar guys, standing outside a high school that Seungyoun always passed by every day.

They were none other than Wooseok and his friend, Yohan. The guys whom Seungyoun had been watching throughout his bus ride. Perhaps, for once, luck was on his side.

“Ah, so Kim Yohan goes to that school!” Seungyoun piped up. “Then, he may go to our college too next year.” Being the extrovert he was, he picked up his pace and began to run so he could greet both of them.

Outside the school gate, Wooseok and Yohan were just about to say goodbye. The latter said something that made his shorter friend laugh. Wooseok patted the smiley boy on the head, and Yohan pinched his cheek in return.

“I’ll wait for you to pick me up later!” Yohan giggled and bounced on his heels a little. “I can’t wait, recording videos for your channel is really fun.”

Wooseok chuckled, brushing off a piece of thread on Yohan’s black school blazer with his index finger. “We’ll save that for later, now you get in and focus on your classes.”

“Aye aye!” Yohan stood straight and saluted the older, his plump lips twitching to hold back his smile. “See you, hyung!”

“See you, Yohanie.”

While Wooseok was sending Yohan off with little waves and a sweet smile, his ears caught a familiar high-pitched cry in the distance.

“Heeeeeyy! Wait!”

His face dropped along with his hand. He blew out an irritated sigh and rolled his eyes before turning and continuing his walk to the campus.

“Kim Wooseok! Wait!”

Seungyoun arrived by his side with all his overwhelming bubbly energy and his heavy wheezes, his smile bright and soft like the morning autumn sun, directed right at Wooseok’s poker face.

“Hey! Finally!” The taller of the two panted, trying to sort his breath after running like a thief. “Ah, too bad, I was about to—” _greet Kim Yohan too._ Seungyoun halted his words midway. _No, if I say that, he’ll know that I’ve been watching his videos,_ he thought. He cleared his throat and masked his unfinished sentence with an innocent grin. “I mean, it’s good to see you again. We’ve met before, remember? Ah, I mean, of course we’ve met in class, but we also met at a store.”

Wooseok side-eyed his classmate, secretly scanning him from head to toe, noticing the striking difference in his appearance that day. He undeniably looked good.

Wooseok’s answer was brief and cold. “Yes, I’m aware.” He fixed his backpack. Seungyoun noticed that the bag was different from the one he had used before. It was bigger and seemed heavier.

“What’s in your bag?” Seungyoun decided to be nosy instead, completely distracted from his mission to clear the misundertanding. _It could be his recording equipment!_ He thought sparkly-eyed.

The distrust written all over Wooseok’s face was as clear as the sky. He had encountered Seungyoun twice outside class, and both times Seungyoun had impressively displayed his immoral behaviour towards ladies. What did he want then by suddenly prying into Wooseok’s business? That goofy smile looked more like a sly wolf grin in Wooseok’s vision. Was this guy, perhaps, trying to have his way with Wooseok too?

No, it wasn’t that Wooseok was overconfident. In fact, he’d heard a lot that he was prettier than some girls. Even guys tried to hit on him, both in college and on the internet. It wasn’t wrong of him to think that Seungyoun could be one of those guys too, right? There was no way he’d let that pervert get too close to him.

“…It’s none of your concern.” Wooseok deadpanned.

Stunned by the rude comeback, Seungyoun blinked, and then restarted with a laugh. “Ah, sorry for asking! Right, it’s your privacy.”

At least they were still walking together. They had the same destination, so Wooseok had no other choices. He couldn’t possibly run away and risk messing his neat hair just to avoid Seungyoun, right? Perhaps luck was really on Seungyoun’s side.

“Ah, you know, about what you saw the other day—”

“Hey, Wooseokie!”

Who was he kidding? Of course luck was never on his side. A white car pulled over and the front window went down, revealing two beaming girls – their classmates, the ones who had left the campus together with Wooseok the previous day. A faint sound of the car doors being unlocked could be heard.

“Oh, hey.” Wooseok’s unamused face brightened up in an instant at the sight of his friends.

“Jump in!” The girls waved and pointed at the back seat.

So he did, unhesitatingly, and they drove away as if Seungyoun was some kind of invisible astral being.

Seungyoun was left alone by the street with his hand hanging in the air and his smile faltering, just a tiny bit.

“…It’s okay.” He shrugged and pulled his lips back into a full smile. “Yeah, see you in the class.”

Maybe he was _a little_ hurt. As someone who had many, _many_ friends, Seungyoun was unfamiliar with that sort of rejection in his social life – especially by the person whom he was starting to admire after his Youtube marathon. He could still smile throughout the day, though, and his smile always grew a little wider whenever he received a compliment about how good he looked, but he was conflicted. Seungyoun couldn’t quite put his finger on what exactly he was feeling.

So, he decided to take a step back and distance himself from that guy who had caused his emotional confusion. He’d give himself some time to figure out what to do with him next. For the time being, it wasn’t hard to pretend Wooseok didn’t exist, Seungyoun had many others to keep him preoccupied.

One of them was his senior, a guy two years older, Han Seungwoo. When Seungyoun’s last class of the day ended, the senior and his group of friends had been waiting outside his classroom. Seungyoun let himself get dragged along to a new karaoke bar that had just been opened for two weeks. It was just the middle of the week, but screw it, he thought, he’d pretend it was the weekend.

“What’s wrong, Seungyounie? You’re not as loud as usual!” Seungwoo shouted, his loud high-pitched voice competing with the blasting cheerful song of a K-Pop girl group and their friends’ chaotic singing, if it could even be called _singing._ He didn’t need a microphone to beat them.

“Eh? What do you mean? There’s nothing wrong!” Seungyoun laughed, bright yet somewhat awkward, and then proceeded to join the other five guys dancing to the girly song so cheekily. Seungwoo cocked an eyebrow and smiled, not buying the younger’s act.

_“Cheer up baby! Cheer up baby! Jeom deo himeul laeeee!!”_

Ten minutes before their karaoke session ended, two of them went away to look for a snack that had been going viral around that area. Five minutes later, Seungwoo managed to get Seungyoun to accompany him to the toilet. The two tall guys still continued to sing loudly even as they walked down the neon-lit corridor. The rooms there had transparent glass doors and they could see people inside – Seungyoun peeked into every room and laughed at the songs some people were singing. Just three rooms away from the toilet, though, he stopped peeking and decided to behave.

If only he had continued to peek, he would have found a _pleasant_ surprise; his dear classmate, who was recording a video together with a particular giggly high school boy.

When the group of five college students were about to leave the karaoke bar, they found their two friends who had left earlier, cackling like naughty little kids outside while eating their snack – a cup of colorful frozen balls that could emit smoke when chewed.

“What are those?” Seungyoun asked with an amused smile of a child.

“Dragon’s Breath!” One of them said. “Kind of some cereal puffs frozen in liquid nitrogen. Look!”

The older student popped a yellow ball into his mouth, chewed it, and then breathed out smoke through both his mouth and nose. The group of males laughed and clapped their hands.

“That’s so cool! I wanna try!” Seungyoun raised his arm.

“Ah, I heard they’re bad, though?” Seungwoo said, “You could get really sick because of the liquid nitrogen.”

“Trying just a little won’t hurt!” His friend waved off his concern. “There’s the right way how to eat them.”

The guys took turns to try. When it was Seungyoun’s turn, suddenly he got an idea that made himself laugh.

“Hyung, where’s the receipt from the karaoke?” he asked Seungwoo.

Confused and curious, Seungwoo dug his pocket and fished out a piece of white paper. Seungyoun took it and rolled it into a form that resembled a cigarette.

“Ah, I know what you’re going to do.” Seungwoo chuckled and shook his head. “I’ll make it more interesting. Please record us, anyone.”

Putting his giggling fit to a halt, Seungyoun leaned his back against the wall outside the karaoke bar and held his fake cigarette between his index and middle fingers. He pointed at his open mouth.

“Feed me, hyung,” he said, and Seungwoo’s friend popped a piece of the snack into his waiting mouth.

“Since we’ve all tried that thing, you can go and throw it away,” Seungwoo said to his friend, still worried about the potentially harmful food. “I’ll treat you guys to a nice dinner instead.”

“Pfft. Fine, daddy.” The other guy smiled and rolled his eyes as he went to the trash can nearby. Meanwhile, Seungwoo stepped closer to Seungyoun, rested his forearm on the wall above the younger’s head, and tipped his chin as he brought their faces dangerously close. The rest of their friends were recording them with their phones while holding back their giggles.

“You’re so sexy when you smoke,” Seungwoo said in a breathy whisper.

Seungyoun’s lips twitched suppressing his laugh. He slipped his _cigarette_ that was the karaoke receipt between his plump lips, pretending to suck on it. Puffs of white smoke emanated from his nostrils and his mouth, blowing against the older’s face. He chewed a little more, tilted his head closer, and blew more smoke against Seungwoo’s lips. Suddenly they both burst into laughter along with their friends.

For an unknown reason, Seungyoun felt some kind of force that urged him to fly his gaze to the karaoke bar’s entrance. And he froze up.

It was Kim Wooseok again, witnessing him do some questionable stuff again. He stood there with his eyes narrowed behind his round glasses, looking at him with what seemed like a judging face, but really he was just trying to discern the guys’ faces from the distance. Wooseok could recognize Seungyoun, but not the others.

He could see Seungyoun smoking and seducing a guy, not eating a smoky food, because the said food had been disposed and the one in Seungyoun’s mouth had been swallowed. Yet another misleading scene.

“Wahh it was really fun today!” Next to Wooseok, Yohan was just being his usual giggly self while busy tapping on his phone, posting some new photos of him and Wooseok on his Instagram. “Ah, I’m sure my friends will bombard me with questions as soon as I’ve finished posting these. You’re getting more famous, hyung!”

Wooseok’s cold eyes were trained on Seungyoun as the oblivious Yohan threw an arm around his shoulders and ushered him down the street, walking to the opposite direction. Seungyoun fell silent.

“Seungyounie?” Seungwoo snapped his fingers to get Seungyoun out of his trance. He followed the direction of the younger’s gaze and only found the empty sidewalk. Seungyoun remained staring into space even though Wooseok and Yohan were no longer in sight.

It was perfect, wasn’t it? Then, Wooseok saw him not only as an immoral pervert, but also a potentially heavy _smoker_ who flirted so seductively with a guy. His image was _perfectly_ ruined in Wooseok’s eyes.

“Seungyounie, is something wrong?”

“…Nothing, hyung. I’m just hungry. Let’s go have dinner.”

At this point, he had no idea whether he should even try to explain or just let Wooseok continue to misunderstand him. The universe would always ruin it for him anyway – even when he wasn’t even trying.

* * *

Seungyoun was walking home while watching another Youtube video. Yes, he wasn’t watching where he was going. Had he turned into a rebel? He wasn’t following his mother’s advice for once.

Seungyoun couldn’t help it, though. The video that had been uploaded just ten minutes ago was a quality content that he could not skip to watch later, and also one that he should have seen coming – the visit to the new karaoke bar, where they had run into each other again by _fate_ three days before.

Wooseok was singing so beautifully in the video, a famous ballad song that Seungyoun had also sung with his friends that day; _“Stalker”_ by 10cm, his favorite duo. The voice that was filling in Seungyoun’s ears was incredibly soft and sweet, calm and warm, reminding him of a cup of hot chocolate in the middle of a rainy autumn night.

_“I know what my problem is_

_I’m ugly and insignificant_

_The truth that she is ashamed of me is sad,_

_But what can I do_

_If there are standards for loving a bright star_

_I can’t understand, but I’ve got nothing to say_

_Because I’m just a nerd with glasses…”_

An ironic smile creeped on Seungyoun’s lips. “Why are you singing this song, Kim Wooseok?” He asked the pretty guy on the screen. “It was right when I chose to sing this song, but it’s not suitable for you. I’m the ugly one. You’re the bright star.”

That song was the last one that Wooseok had sung together with Yohan. Their voices blended really well, Seungyoun had to admit. While the Youtuber and his cheerful friend were wrappinng up the video, Seungyoun scrolled down and proceeded to type a whipped comment passionately.

_“Woah… Your voice is so so so so good! You could’ve been an idol… I’m going to listen to your singing again before I sleep. I’m sure it’ll help me with my insomnia and even give me nice dreams. You’ve been working hard… So… thank you for all the nice content! It’s always exciting when you post a new video. You seem like a fun person too… Kim Yohan is so lucky to be your close friend. I guess not everyone can see that side of you.”_

Seungyoun couldn’t help but slip a hint of envy in his comment. He paused as soon as he realized that he was starting to ramble; it could get unnecessarily long if he didn’t finish it there.

So he ended it with the classic loyal subscriber comment, _“Looking forward to your next video!”_

It wasn’t the first time he left a comment, no, he had left quite a bunch using his second account named _Woodzdnwm._ Whenever he sent one, just like at the moment, he wondered if Wooseok would see it. And maybe how it would make him feel.

“Why do we always meet like this?”

Seungyoun snapped his head up and a goofy smile jumped out on his face; an automatic response to the voice of his favorite neighbour.

“Nam Dohyon!”

Dohyon’s tired sigh turned into a small _‘oof’_ as Seungyoun threw his arms around him. Luckily, that day the teenage boy didn’t have any food to steal. He had finished his snack at school.

_In your face, you Swiper._ Dohyon’s wicked tiny smirk conveyed.

Suddenly, Seungyoun’s phone chimed, and the sound made him gasp comically – he had set a different notification sound for Youtube that made it distinguishable from the rest of his apps.

“Did he just post another video?? Or is it just a video recommendation from Youtube? No, Youtube, I don’t want your recommendation, I just want to see his videos ugh why can’t I unlock this thing??” He tried to unlock his phone clumsily in his hyped state, failing four times before the home screen finally showed up. He let out another gasp – a much louder, sharper, high-pitched one – when he saw what the notification was about.

“…HE REPLIED TO MY COMMENT! HOLY PORK BELLY HE REPLIED TO MY COMMENT!”

“Hyung!! Stop, it hurts!!”

Screaming in pure euphoria as if he had won a million dollar lottery, Seungyoun bounced up and down and pulled Dohyon’s poor cheeks violently. He was so happy, there were tears in his eyes.

Seungyoun stopped only when he realized that he hadn’t even read Wooseok’s reply.

_“I’m glad you like my content. Let me know if my singing can actually help you sleep, I’ll sing more in my videos if it really does. I hope this channel can be helpful too. I’ve only replied this once, but thanks for your comments and support :)”_

Seungyoun could burst into tears any second now. “He’s so sweet… He’s so sweet and cute.” No, he was torn between crying and smiling like a fool. “HE HAS READ MY OTHER COMMENTS TOO! AAAHH!”

He opted to go with the latter – his smile went on full bloom as he returned back on his full-on chaotic fanboying, screaming and jumping around Dohyon and torturing him with excessive touches, drowning so deep in ecstasy just because he got noticed for once.

“Seungyoun hyuuung! Let go!!”

Dohyon’s shriek for help was heard all the way to his big brother’s room, up on the second floor of the house they finally stopped at. Hangyul turned down the volume of his bluetooth speaker and moved his new puppy from his lap to the floor.

Yes, Hangyul had a new puppy. A very adorable male Corgi pup that he called Baegi – simply the short of _baby Corgi,_ since he couldn’t bother working his mind any harder than that to find some other creative names. He had gone to a pet shop just two days before, asking the shopkeeper to show him the naughtiest puppy they had had on hand. It was actually for experiment purposes – to practice his magic before the time came when he had to fulfill Dohyon’s _request_. Before trying to turn a human into a good person, he should be able to turn a mischievous dog into a good one too.

He was very proud to declare his first major success.

“Baegi, sit.” Hangyul commanded. The fawn and white ball of fluff plopped down on its butt and panted happily. “Good boy. Who’s a good boy?”

“ _Arf_!”

“Right, Baegi is a good boy. Let’s turn that annoying hyung into a good boy too.”

The secret wizard’s son stepped out to his balcony right when a song of a K-Pop girl group started playing on his bluetooth speaker; Red Velvet’s _Zimzalabim._

_“Are you ready for this? Zimzalabim~”_

He squatted down on his balcony and watched over his brother and his neighbour below through the railings.

“This is the happiest day of my liiiiife!” Seungyoun yelled at the top of his lungs, right into Dohyon’s poor ear, bouncing so hyperactively with his arms around the younger boy. Dohyon had decided to save his voice – he looked like a giant jelly that was about to collapse any second.

_“Zim zalabim zim zim zalabim zim zim zalabim zim zim~”_

The song in the background chanted, teasing Hangyul to just strike his loud neighbour with the spell that he had practiced. His heart rate was quickly escalating and beads of sweat were seeping out on his temples.

_I can do this, I can do this. This is for everyone’s sake. If he becomes a person with self control, this whole neighbourhood will also be at peace without his loud voice. This is a golden chance. I’m no Spiderman, but I’ll be this neighbourhood’s hero._

Dohyon’s voice echoed in the back of his head. _“You won’t ever be able to turn Mum and Dad back to normal if you’re too scared to use your magic, hyung. Just turn him into a good boy. What could go wrong?”_

With that final push, Hangyul’s determination became rock solid. His sharp eyes were then fixated on the smiley Seungyoun as the tips of fingers emitted faint purple light, twinkling periwinkle dust twirling around them, eventually growing brighter and brighter. His index finger raised until it was pointing at the exact spot where Seungyoun was standing. His lips parted, slowly and inaudibly muttering out a spell that he knew would be life-changing the moment he said the last word.

“…be a good boy.” He whispered.

“You know what, Dohyonie, I’ll buy you a lot of snacks to celebrate this—”

_Zap!_

“…”

“…AAAAAHHHHH! SEUNGYOUN HYUNG!”

Dohyon broke into high-pitched incoherent screams and clutched his own face in horror. A part of him said, _I should’ve seen this coming!,_ but another part said, _This is my fault, I made hyung use his magic!,_ and another that he hated to admit in that sort of situation was, _Seungyoun hyung is SO cute like this!_

Whichever part of him that he chose to listen to, though, there was nothing he could do, because in front of him it was no longer a tall clingy childish guy anymore, but instead a whole actual _dog_ – a confused, cream and white Shiba Inu with a beanie hanging on one ear, black sweatshirt and brown pants pooling around its legs, red and white Converse sneakers covering its front paws.

Seungyoun, who had miraculously transformed into a dog, blinked at Dohyon and cocked his head. The Cho Seungyoun flavor was interestingly still retained in the Shiba’s face, people might actually believe that the dog was Seungyoun. Dohyon’s eyes were wide to their maximum extent as his shaky finger pointed at the adorable-faced animal.

Hangyul’s face was exactly the same as his brother’s. He had collapsed back onto his bottom, hyperventilating as he slowly dragged himself back into his room. His panic state only worsened when Baegi moved to sit next to him and shot a questioning look, which somehow looked judgmental instead to his owner. The song in the background sounded intimidatingly louder in his ears like a mocking chant.

_“Zimzalabim zim zim zalabim zim zim zalabim zim zim! Na na na na na! Hey! Na na na na!”_

Seungyoun the Shiba Inu looked down and flinched in surprise at the sight of his own front legs. He retracted his paws from his sneakers that now looked super huge in his sight.

_“Oh, no… No! What happened to me??”_ He couldn’t even scream – instead of a scream, his pointy fluffy ears only caught his own terrified whimpers. When Dohyon took cautious steps closer to him, he realized how huge the boy now looked, like a giant who wanted to crush and eat him. Seungyoun panicked and took several steps back.

“Hyung, calm down… It’s okay.” Dohyon lowered his body and extended his trembling hand, as if Seungyoun was a dangerous unidentified species.

_“No, it’s not okay! THIS IS NOT OKAY!”_

Before Seungyoun knew it, his feet had brought him running away as fast as they could, leaving Dohyon and his shouts behind. He ran and ran, away from his home, away from the neighbourhood, along sidewalks and across busy streets where he almost got run over by honking cars multiple times. He didn’t know where he was going. His sight was blurry and sniffles were coming out of his wet black nose. It was a miracle that he was still alive.

_“I’m so unlucky, I’m the unluckiest in this world! Am I cursed? Why do I have to live like this?? What crime did I do to deserve this??”_

He probably had spent an hour running around and about in random directions. Eventually, he found himself so exhausted that he had no more energy left to run.

Walking with his head hung low, Seungyoun bumped a leg and just decided to give up, collapsing onto his side.

“Oh my.”

A soft yet masculine scent of a perfume entered the dog’s moist nose as the guy whom he had bumped squatted down, looking at him in concern. Seungyoun didn’t want to open his eyes. He was ashamed to be discovered like that.

Not until he was lifted up by gentle hands and carried away in a pair of strong arms – his eyes opened a little bit, and then they popped open wide recognizing the face of the guy holding him.

_“…Kim Wooseok?!”_

Again, and as always, they ran into each other by _fate._

“Are you sick, puppy? You look so weak. You won’t mind if I check you for a bit, will you? Let’s wait here, maybe your owner will come and look for you.”

Wooseok stopped near a park there and sat on a bench, laying the Shiba in his lap. The dog wasn't the maximum size of his breed, his length was just a little longer than Wooseok's torso. From the Shiba Inu memes and videos Wooseok had seen a lot on the internet, he was pretty sure this dog could still grow bigger.

_“Wooseok, this is me! I’m Cho Seungyoun!”_ Seungyoun’s voice came out as a mixture of little whines and restrained _‘ruff’_ s. _“Help me, please! I need to turn back to normal and go home, my mum is alone!”_

Wooseok cupped Seungyoun’s face in his hands and looked closely into his eyes. The dog’s noises died down altogether.

_“Ah, this is so close, y-you’re making me nervous.”_ Seungyoun’s puppy eyes darted side to side, trying to look anywhere but the beautiful doe eyes that were inspecting him.

“Oh no, are you crying? There are tears in your eyes!” Wooseok pulled the dog into a hug and cradled him like a baby. Seungyoun could barely breathe. “How could your owner let you go astray like this? You don’t even have a collar on you. How are we going to find your owner? We can’t sit here forever, can we? Are you hungry?”

Wooseok kept on talking to the stunned Shiba with his pouty small, plump lips and an adorable child-like voice.

_Is this really the same Kim Wooseok?_ Seungyoun wondered. _If only he knew that it’s me… He wouldn’t be treating me like this, would he?_

They waited and waited until an hour had passed. Seungyoun was getting used to the belly rubs and head scratches from Wooseok. Even though he was in the form of a dog, all those touches seemed weird to him – and maybe a little sexy when that pretty hand went a little too low on his belly – but he was starting to like this aspect of being a dog. That was a pretty soon partial acceptance.

Seungyoun found the silver lining of this whole absurd transformation ordeal; at least, Kim Wooseok wasn’t avoiding him like the plague anymore.

“You know what,” Wooseok started, “I don’t think we’ll get anything by sitting here any longer. I’ll just take you home, how about that? I don’t live far from here. My parents are not going to like this, but I’ll explain to them.”

Wooseok held Seungyoun back in his arms, and they went to his home that way. Seungyoun and his legs were then perfectly fine and capable of walking on his own, but would he throw away that golden chance? No, of course not. He loved Wooseok’s perfume. Yes, that was the reason. Not anything else. Nope.

“Oh! I’ve got an idea. We can make a video of you and I’ll post it on my channel, so maybe that way your owner can find you. I want my channel to be helpful too. I said that to my subscriber earlier.”

_You said that to me._ Seungyoun felt his puppy heart swell with pride and happiness. He considered himself a successful fan.

And when Wooseok placed a kiss on top of his head, he guiltily thought…

_Maybe being a dog isn’t so bad._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Doge Seungyoun getting it! Anyway, some things in this story were inspired by real contents of X1 members, like Wooseok's fish fillet ASMR, some outfit reference from Wooseok and Seungyoun's insta posts, Wooseok and Seungyoun singing 10cm's "Stalker" (separately), Dohyon's stolen cake (was it a cake?), Yohan's puppies Cappu and Ccino, and some other stuff. lol don't we miss them all...
> 
> Well, this story is not done yet, so pls wait for the next chapter. Thank you for reading! :)


	2. Chapter 2

_(^ Is that a Shiba on Wooseokie's shirt? Is that a fox? Doesn't matter, because Seungyoun is both. Seungseok wins. :D)_

* * *

Seungyoun should’ve known. From the luxury brands that Wooseok wore, it was obvious that he came from a wealthy family. Still, it came as a surprise to him when he found out that Wooseok lived in an affluent neighbourhood, owning a very fancy, modern single house. They had got to be very loaded to own that sort of private house in Seoul. Well, it wasn’t that Seungyoun didn’t live in a similar environment – even though his late father was no longer around, after having passed away from an illness three years before, at least he had left the best place for Seungyoun and his mother to live in.

But Wooseok’s home; Seungyoun thought it was so pretty, especially because of the various kinds of flowers and plants in every corner, and definitely looked better taken care of than his own home. Everything there was so pretty, including the whole family members; Wooseok and his parents. Youthful, good-looking parents. In a way, Seungyoun was glad he was in form of a dog at the moment, so he didn’t have to feel that inferiority complex by putting his default bed face and cheap comfy clothes on display in front of the family.

“Oh, my. What is that, Wooseok?” Wooseok’s mother asked in a soft tone, yet with a very startled face, the moment her son walked in carrying Seungyoun bridal style. She and her husband left the sofa to get a closer look of the Shiba.

“Um, a dog.” Wooseok blinked at Seungyoun, as if searching for a better answer on the dog’s innocent face. “A Shiba Inu. I think he got lost… and he didn’t look so well, so I took him. We actually waited for a while in case the owner would come. Well… I was thinking maybe it would help if I post a video of him online.”

Seungyoun supported the reasoning by flashing a happy smile at Wooseok’s parents. His long, pink tongue rolled out and fell to the side as he panted a little.

Chuckling, Wooseok’s mother placed her hands on her hips and shook her head. The lady found the dog very adorable, of course, yet she had to remind herself that a great mess might potentially come in one package with that cuteness.

“But what if the owner still doesn’t come even after you post the video?” Wooseok’s father asked calmly.

“I will…” Wooseok chewed on his bottom lip, trying to find words that would let his parents give in while not hurting the dog’s feelings too, in case he understood what Wooseok said. “I will wait for a week, and go to the place where I found him, maybe to walk him around that area every day. Then, if we don’t find his owner… I’ll see if he troubles us too much, maybe… I will take him to an animal shelter.”

Seungyoun’s smile was instantly wiped off his face. He whimpered. _“No, please… At least take me to my mum! She doesn’t want to keep a dog either, but maybe there’s a way to let her know it’s me… Just PLEASE not the shelter, I don’t want to live together with actual dogs! What if a dog tries to mate with me? What if I get adopted by some naughty kids who treat me like a toy and make memes out of me?? They WILL make memes out of me!”_

_Oh, he really understands what I’m saying,_ Wooseok thought, stunned by the sad whines. He carefully continued, “But… If he behaves, can we keep him?”

Seungyoun perked up. And then his face fell flat. _“Wait, I’m not supposed to be happy about this… I’m supposed to turn back to normal!!!’_

“We’ve talked about this, Wooseokie.” The mother sighed and gave a helpless smile, while the father quietly observed the anxious dog.

“You know I was really against having a pet,” Wooseok’s mother continued, “but because you really wanted a dog, I agreed to let you have it as long as it’s a small one. But this dog isn’t small, don’t you think?”

_“Well, in my defense, it’s because as a human I’m tall and handsome.”_ Seungyoun let out a small whine. _“Nevermind, I’m just tall.”_

“He’s not _that_ big either.” Wooseok looked at the dog.

_“I’m big, Kim Wooseok. You have no idea.”_ Seungyoun got embarrassed by his own innuendo. _“Yeah, you don’t have to have any idea about it.”_

“I promise I’ll do everything to take care of him.” Wooseok began trying to compromise. “You don’t have to take part in any of it.”

_“This almost sounds like a wedding vow.”_ Seungyoun might shed a happy tear.

“What if he makes a mess while you’re away?” Wooseok’s mother asked.

“I’ll discipline him so it won’t happen again the second time.” Wooseok gave Seungyoun a playful stern look as a warning.

_“W-Wow, that’s kind of sexy.”_ Seungyoun threw a paw over his eyes, making the parents laugh, pleasantly surprised that the dog seemed to understand their whole conversation.

“He seems smart,” the father said, “maybe he’s well-behaved too. One week, hmm… I don’t think that would be a big problem. We don’t know yet if the owner won’t claim him back. Let’s see how things will turn out after one week.”

The Shiba let out a happy little bark thanking the man for giving him a chance. All eyes then fell on Wooseok’s mother.

“Well,” she shrugged, “as long as Wooseokie takes care of him and teaches him to behave, one week is acceptable.”

_“Yes!! I’m not sleeping outside tonight! Thank you, ma’am!”_

“Look how happy he is.” Wooseok chuckled and cuddled the dog. “Thank you, Mum, Dad.”

“ _Arf! Ruff!”_

Wooseok’s father was the typical father who was against the idea of having a dog at first, but later ended up loving the dog the most. He went to the storage room and dug into some old stuff to find something that Seungyoun could play with. He found a tennis ball.

First throw, Seungyoun just stood on his spot and gave the man a dumb look, causing him to worry if the dog was actually not _that_ smart.

It took a long moment until Seungyoun figured out, while being fed some juicy chicken, _“Ahh, right! I was supposed to catch that ball and bring it back to him. Ah, okay then... I’ll do it with all my heart to show my sincere gratitude!”_

And so, after finishing his food, Seungyoun ran back and forth around the the dining room while the family were having dinner, catching and returning the tennis ball to Wooseok’s father until he was panting hard and out of breath. The man wasn’t even aware of his state, because he kept on throwing the ball while being busy eating and discussing about what name they should call the dog for the meantime.

_“I really should do more exercise.”_ Seungyoun mentally wheezed and collapsed onto the floor when the father stopped throwing the ball, at last.

“Ah, we’re really bad at finding names!” Wooseok laughed at the names that his parents suggested. Exhausted and drooling on the floor, Seungyoun smiled adoringly at how nice Wooseok’s laugh sounded; definitely more pleasant to hear up close than through his earphones. He found it so nice to see the happier side of the cool Kim Wooseok.

The dog looked around to find something that he could use as a hint about his name. How could he make them guess the name _Cho Seungyoun_? It was way too hard. He went on scanning the room.

_Aha!_ He got up on all four and beamed at the painting in the room. It was a picture of the woods, with lush trees, a river, and a pair of deer. He went to stand under the painting and barked at it.

_“Woodz, call me Woodz! It’s my online nickname!”_

“Oh? Why is he barking at the painting?” Wooseok’s mother asked. “Is there something on it?”

Wooseok took his time to observe the picture before presenting his thoughts. “It could be that he wants to go out to the park, because of the trees. Or it could be about his name, since we were talking about names... Maybe it has something to do with the woods. Oh, it reminds me of this one subscriber who always leaves long comments on my videos. His name is Wood Zwmwm or something.”

_“Huh… That’s not how you read it!”_ Seungyoun complained, _“It’s Woodz dnwm! Not Wood, aish… It reminds me of morning wood. Ahh, I’ll have to add a space or an underscore in between.”_

Nevertheless, Seungyoun couldn’t be happier that it was then confirmed; he had been noticed by his favourite Youtuber. Wooseok even remembered his username… although that was not exactly the right spelling.

“Wood? That’s a very unusual name,” the father commented, petting Seungyoun’s head. “Should we call him Wood? Maybe add something to it?”

Wooseok tapped his chin and stared down at Seungyoun, who shot him an encouraging smile.

_“Come on, Kim Wooseok, you’ll get it!”_

Then, Wooseok beamed. “Oh, I know!”

Seungyoun barked and jumped excitedly. _“Yes! That’s right, it’s Woodz! You just have to move the Z to the Wood! Oh, I knew it, you’re so smart!”_

“…Woody.”

Seungyoun stopped as if his battery had suddenly fallen out. _“Huh…? W-Whoa wait, not Y, but the letter after Y! WoodZ! Why Woody? Am I Woody Woodpecker??”_

“It sounds cute.”

When the genuinely happy Wooseok grinned and clapped his hands like a child, though, Seungyoun found himself unable to complain anymore.

_“Ah… Fine, fine. If Wooseok says I’m Woody, then Woody I am.”_

Wooseok squatted down and cupped Seungyoun’s face, gently scratching his neck. “Do you like that name? Woody?”

The dog’s eyes curved into happy crescents. _“Since I’ll let you call me by that silly name, let me just lick you real quick.”_ He slid his tongue up Wooseok’s cheek and made him laugh.

“He likes it,” Wooseok said proudly.

Seungyoun licked his temporary owner’s face once again. It could be a once-in-a-lifetime chance to lick someone in the face and not get slapped for it, so, might as well make the most out of it, right?

“Wooseok, you should go and bathe him,” Wooseok’s mother said, “we don’t know where he’s been out there.”

_“Bathe me…?”_ It was inevitable that Seungyoun practically imagined being in the shower together with Wooseok. Not in _that_ way, of course. Nope. He just couldn’t help but think how _different_ it would’ve sounded if only he hadn’t been in form of a dog.

“We don’t have dog shampoo, though,” Wooseok said, scratching his nape.

_“Aww.”_ Seungyoun cooed sadly at the possibility of not getting bathed by Wooseok any time soon. _“I don’t need special shampoo, man, I always pick the cheapest one at the store. A dish soap might do just fine.”_

“Actually, I’ve just remembered, there’s a pet shop around here. I’ll go and buy it there.” Wooseok was fast to leave, as it was getting dark outside. While waiting for him, Seungyoun made use of the time trying to steal Wooseok’s parents’ hearts by acting super cute, which made him feel utterly disgusted with himself, but at least his mission was accomplished. The couple in their mid forties couldn’t stop petting him and giving him belly rubs.

“Let’s keep him,” the father said, having the same look of anticipation as Wooseok’s when asking for the mother’s approval.

His wife laughed. “Let’s wait and see if the owner will come.”

Indeed, Seungyoun felt safe for now. On the other hand, he couldn’t stop worrying about his mother.

_“Since Dohyonie witnessed what happened to me… I hope he and Hangyul would do something and tell Mum about it. Wait for me, Mum, tomorrow I’ll try to get Wooseok to take me there.”_

Later, Wooseok came back not only with dog shampoo, but also some dog snacks and little toys.

_“Is that beef jerky? I can smell beef jerky!”_ Seungyoun jumped around the bag in Wooseok’s hand. Perhaps the natural dog instinct was starting to kick in.

But once again, his jumping frenzy came to a sudden halt and he froze up like the Hachiko statue. _“Oh, no. My stomach… I need to poop. Where’s the toilet?”_

“Now that we have some nice shampoo, let’s get you cleaned up.” Wooseok lifted Seungyoun up and carried him up the stairs. He was quick to notice that the dog was getting anxious. “What’s wrong, buddy? Don’t you like showering? No worries, it’ll feel nice and warm in there.”

_“That’s not it… Hurry up, it’s coming out! My goodness, is this why dogs randomly stop walking out of the blue and just dump their crap?”_

As soon as he spotted the bathroom, Seungyoun jumped off Wooseok’s arms and sprinted there, quickly hopping onto the toilet seat. He mentally let out a long sigh of relief as he released everything into the toilet bowl.

Wooseok stood right in front of him and watched with an amazed look plastered on his face.

_“Can you please look somewhere else? Stop staring at me while I’m pooping.”_ Seungyoun looked away shyly. _“This is awkward, you know… My whole lower area is showing. Stop staring. Please. I might die.”_

Instead of leaving Seungyoun alone to finish his business in peace, Wooseok fished out his phone and recorded a video of him taking a dump.

_“…WHY, KIM WOOSEOK?! Are you going to post that on your channel?? Delete that!”_

Seungyoun wanted to cry.

“Mum, Dad, look! Woody is pooping on the toilet on his own!”

The parents came running to watch the phenomenon unfold before they could miss it.

“Wow, he is really smart. His owner must have taught him well,” Wooseok’s father commented.

Sadly, even as a dog, Seungyoun was still as unlucky as ever. Feeling extreme discomfort of being watched, he shifted just _a little –_ and then his hind paw slipped and dramatically plunged into the toilet bowl full of his own dirt with a splash. The Kim family gasped.

“Oh, no!” Wooseok lifted the Shiba off the toilet immediately, gawking at the now wet and dirty leg.

Seungyoun _really_ wanted to cry.

“…Okay, now you really need a shower.”

Wooseok changed into some comfortable clothes; a plain white t-shirt with a tiny picture of a Shiba Inu face on the chest and a pair of black shorts. He put Seungyoun in the shower and proceeded to wash him up while humming a cheerful song. Totally the opposite to his mood, though, Seungyoun had his head and ears down, his tail curling between his legs, looking dejected and ashamed.

“You’re so cute.” Wooseok smiled, smearing the foam from the dog’s neck down to the chest. “Why are you so cute?”

_“Why are you not mad?”_ Seungyoun whimpered.

“It was an accident. Don’t be upset about it. I will still keep you.”

The warm water soaking his cream and white fur, and the gentle hand that was slowly gliding over his body, rinsing off all the foam, sent a pleasant fuzzy feeling to Seungyoun’s chest. It could have felt kind of sexy to him, yet the comfort washing over him beat all the sexy thoughts away. Instead, he felt loved. It was the feeling of still being loved even after messing up that made him want to cry.

Wooseok got a big, fluffy white towel and wrapped Seungyoun from head to paw. “You had a long day, didn’t you?” He knelt down and took the dog into a warm hug.

_“I did.”_ Seungyoun rested his muzzle on Wooseok’s shoulder and closed his eyes, feeling mentally worn out. He wished he could have wrapped his arms around him too.

After spending quite a while to blow-dry and brush the dog – and laughing every time Seungyoun pulled a memeable face because of the heat from the dryer getting a little too close – Wooseok finally brought him to his room. The room had both classy and boyish feels to it, with a nice contrast play in the colors of black, white, red, and grey. It was pretty close to what Seungyoun had expected; a good portion of it looked like a recording set, where there were lights that were off at the moment, and a camera on a tripod that was left in position after having been used. Maybe the Youtuber was going to make another content there again soon. Near that area was his desk, where he usually worked on editing his videos. His laptop screen was up, staying on sleep mode, and a notebook lay open next to it, under the warm white light of the table lamp. Another part of the room looked just like a mini internet café. There was a high-tech gaming computer set complete with a huge monitor, a gaming mouse and keyboard with colorful neon lights, and a headset just laid on the table. Everything was left on, Seungyoun noticed. He suddenly became concerned about the electricity bills.

In the middle of the room was a comfy queen size bed, facing an HD flat screen TV, and on the other side was a walk-in closet that looked pretty much like a luxury clothing shop to Seungyoun. Unlike the other messy half of the room, this part was much more organized.

_“Guess you won’t notice if I take a shirt or two,”_ Seungyoun thought jokingly. _“Nah, they probably won’t fit on me. They’re flower boy style anyway! My style is the comfy jobless man style, it’s the best.”_

“I need to shower too. Will you wait for me here?” Wooseok turned his laptop on and opened Youtube in a new tab of the browser. “You can watch something fun here. What do you want to watch?”

_“Your videos, hehe.”_ Seungyoun hopped onto the dark red office chair and happily dropped his butt down. _“The latest one, please! I wanna listen to your singing again.”_

“I could show you my videos, but I guess you’ll find them boring.” Wooseok chuckled.

_“What? No! Why would you think like that?”_ Seungyoun’s pointy ears erected in surprise.

“Let’s see… ‘Funniest Shiba Inu Compilation: a meme compilation you didn’t know you needed’. Oh, that sounds fun, doesn’t it? Let’s check this out.” Wooseok clicked on a thumbnail.

_“…Of all kinds of videos available on Youtube, you choose one that makes fun of ‘my’ kind? Oh, sure, that sounds fun… Excellent choice, Kim Wooseok.”_

Wooseok left Seungyoun alone to watch the compilation, which eventually led to insecurity arising in him.

_“Do I look this adorably stupid all the time?”_

The video ended and some similar contents were suggested. Seungyoun brought his paw up and clicked the cross button. _“No, thank you. Even though I’m not a real Shiba, it still feels humiliating somehow. I’ve been humiliated enough today. So, let’s watch something nice…”_ He stood on his hind legs, supported his weight with one paw on the desk, and then moved the cursor to Wooseok’s profile icon in the top corner of the screen. It would be _really_ bizarre and suspicious if he typed in the search bar, right? Not that opening the profile was _not_ suspicious at all… Well, at least some clicks could be considered an accident.

He plopped back down gleefully and went on rewatching Wooseok’s karaoke video. When Wooseok sang, he also sang – or more like _howled_ along.

It took a while until he realized that the very person in the video was then standing at the door, already in an adorable pair of checkered pastel brown pajamas, gawking so hard, with a towel draped over his damp brown hair.

“Y-You… You’re watching my video.” Wooseok’s towel fell over as he fast-walked to the dog, who was then wearing a dumb look on his innocent face. “A-And you were singing just now!”

_“Well, technically I was howling, but I’ll take that as a compliment.”_ Seungyoun shot an innocent smile.

Wooseok went on being mindblown and going crazy about all the dog’s talents he had discovered in one day. “You must be a magic dog!” He snapped a picture of Seungyoun watching his Youtube content, and ever so enthusiastically, he sent the photo along with some texts and various stickers to the person who was also shown on the laptop screen; Kim Yohan.

_“Cute.”_ Seungyoun chuckled inwardly. He quoted the very first words Wooseok had said to him at the store back then, _“Please control yourself.”_

Seungyoun had never really questioned the saying, _don’t judge a book by its cover._ He had never even spared a second to think about it, because Cho Seungyoun wasn’t judgmental, and neither was he afraid of being judged. But looking back to the past one week, some things had changed while he had been oblivious. He had unwittingly judged Wooseok as a cold, heartless, unapproachable person, and he himself had gone the extra mile, to the extent that he would change his appearance in order to obtain a better judgment from Wooseok. _All_ because of the mishaps and misunderstanding that he hadn’t even succeeded to clear.

And now, at that moment, somehow he ended up sitting in Wooseok’s lap, feeling so cozy in his backhug as they continued watching the video together. The universe worked in peculiar ways, Seungyoun thought, and he still had no clue what it wanted from him.

“Sometimes it gets awkward to watch myself like this.” Wooseok pursed his lips and let out a small, held-back squeaking laugh. “It was a little embarrassing at first. But it’s really nice when I get comments. Likes and subscribers are also really nice, but I like to read what people think of me. I love to read positive messages, and re-read some supportive ones later, when I don’t feel really good about myself. They motivate me and make me feel better.”

Seungyoun tilted his head back and gave a concerned look, which just looked adorable to Wooseok because of the puppy eyes. _“You don’t need comments to feel good about yourself. What if you get no comments? Even if nobody tells you, the fact that you’re trying your best should be enough to make you proud of yourself.”_

“Ah, you know… Whenever you make those little noises, I always wish I could understand what they mean.” Wooseok rested his chin on top of the dog’s head and stuck out his bottom lip. “Are you trying to say something?”

“ _Arf, ruff._ ”

“I should buy a dog dictionary. Is there such a thing?”

Wooseok stopped scrolling at a particular comment, and Seungyoun’s puppy heart skipped a beat. The comment left by _Woodzdnwm._

“This person leaves nice comments.” Wooseok blinked softly, a smile gracing his lips. “Back then I used see people like this as fans who are, you know, thirsty for me, but now I’ve come to appreciate them.”

_“Thirsty for you…? Wow, that self-esteem has gone through the roof. I want that confidence.”_ Suddenly Seungyoun felt _accused_. _“Thirsty, heh… I’m not thirsty for you. But yeah, you’re welcome. Do appreciate them. I like being appreciated too.”_

“Ah, I rarely reply to people’s comments, though. But I replied to this one. I asked him to tell me if I could really help with his insomnia. But he doesn’t reply anymore… Should I expect another reply, though? Or, was he just saying nice things and didn’t really mean it?” Wooseok pouted.

_“I really meant all I said! Really!”_ Seungyoun turned his body around completely facing the other, trying to get him to pay attention by nudging his chin with his nose. _“You’re overthinking. It has only been a few hours since you replied, right? I would answer you if I could, but I transformed just a moment after reading your reply.”_

Another new fact that Seungyoun learned was that Wooseok was secretly an insecure person. Well, through the videos he had seen that oftentimes the Youtuber was self-conscious about his appearance, especially from how often he subtly fixed his bangs that were actually perfect all the time. But when he was overthinking like this, and when he unconsciously mumbled out his own criticism towards himself in the video, Seungyoun could see that Wooseok’s worries went to the depths further than just about looking flawless.

_“Stop worrying, stop looking at these comments.”_ Seungyoun tried to turn Wooseok’s face away with his muzzle. _“Just go to sleep if you don’t have anything else to do, it’s getting late anyway!”_

“Huh? What is it?” Wooseok was puzzled. “You don’t want to watch it anymore? Is it boring?”

_“Aish, it’s not!”_ Seungyoun hopped off Wooseok’s lap, took the fabric of his pajama pants between his teeth, and gently tugged on it. _“Go. To. Bed.”_

Wooseok blinked in surprise. “O-Oh… You want me to go somewhere. Okay.” Curious, Wooseok shut his laptop and followed the dog. Seungyoun released his bite only when Wooseok was standing next to his bed. “You… want me to sleep?”

“ _Woof!_ ” The Shiba used his head to push the other’s skinny leg, urging him to climb into bed.

“Ah—Okay, okay, let me turn off the lights first.”

Despite being unsure if he should, Wooseok let Seungyoun get in his bed, and later ended up cuddling the dog, only after warning him multiple times not to pee in bed. Seungyoun’s main concern wasn’t his bladder control, though.

First off, he had never cuddled anyone in bed besides his own mother, so everything felt new to him. Especially their body size difference. Being smaller than Wooseok still felt strange and somewhat funny to him. Second thing, he couldn’t help but worry about being mistaken as a pillow and getting suffocated to death if they fell asleep in that position.

“You know what? This is my first time cuddling a living thing in bed.” Wooseok giggled.

_“Oh, that makes the two of us.”_ Seungyoun tried to ignore the fact that Wooseok had just let him know that he had never slept with anyone. Then, perhaps the females who always hung with him at the campus were really just his friends and nothing more, Seungyoun thought.

“Sometimes, it feels… lonely.”

Seungyoun was stunned by the sudden melancholic atmosphere.

“I do have friends, and I interact with many people online, but… it just feels different. I still get lonely. Do dogs feel something complicated like this? Can you relate?” Wooseok held the Shiba’s face, searching for an answer.

_“Hmm… Yeah, I can.”_ Seungyoun stared back into the curious doe eyes, blinking fondly. _“I also feel that way. Well, as a human. But I don’t think dogs are much different. Just… Maybe they know better what – or who – can get rid of that loneliness. Oftentimes, having their owner’s presence and love is enough. But humans… sometimes we don’t even know what we need, no?”_

Wooseok let out a sad sigh. “I really wish I could understand what you’re trying to say.” He closed his eyes as he leaned his forehead on the dog’s, caressing the furry cheek with his thumb. “If only you were a human…”

Seungyoun’s emotions began to bubble up inside him, glazing his round brown eyes with a layer of hot desperate tears. _“If I were a human, you would push me away, like you did. If I were a human… Would you give me a chance? I’m… I’m not a bad guy, I promise… I’m a lonely guy, just like you.”_

“Your whimpers are making me sad.”

Seungyoun licked Wooseok’s cheek, in a way dogs normally do, catching a salty bead of water on his pink tongue.

“Great… First, I’m constantly talking to a dog, and now I’m crying for no reasons.” Wooseok let out a bashful chuckle and wiped the corner of his eye. “Silly me. I look pathetic right now, don’t I? It’s… I don’t know… It’s sad that I may not be able to keep you. Your owner is lucky. If they show up, I’ll have to return you to them.”

_“My owner…”_ Seungyoun thought. _“…is my mum. I do have to return to her. We can still meet and hang out, though? There’s nothing to be sad about.”_

“It’s Sunday tomorrow, let’s go out and film a video of you.” Wooseok smiled. “You have to look happy in the video, okay? So your owner won’t think I don’t treat you well. I treat you well, right?”

_“Of course you do.”_

Thinking of _tomorrow_ , there were too many possibilities that Seungyoun saw. Maybe Hangyul and Dohyon would do something to help him, maybe he could meet his mother, maybe his mum would find out it was him and take him home, or maybe she wouldn’t, maybe nothing would happen and Seungyoun would go back with Wooseok again, sleep in his comfy bed again. Maybe he would get used to being a dog, or maybe tomorrow or someday, he would magically turn back into a human, in a blink of an eye, just as he had transformed into a dog. His _tomorrow_ was pretty much foggy in his sight.

This was the first time Seungyoun cuddled with Wooseok in bed. It might also be the last time, or it might not. But Seungyoun didn’t really want to think about it. For now, while he was a Shiba Inu and being cuddled by Wooseok didn’t feel so wrong, he just wanted to bask in the affection, thinking how much he loved the clean detergent scent on Wooseok’s pajamas combined with the fresh smell of his shampoo.

While it didn’t seem wrong, and while he tried not to question himself at the moment, Seungyoun the Shiba snuggled into Wooseok’s chest and fell asleep to the soft snores that sounded very much like soothing purrs.

* * *

_Earlier that day…_

“Hangyul hyung!”

Dohyon barged into Hangyul’s room to find that his big brother had passed out cold on the floor. He had fainted upon witnessing what _mess_ he himself had made with his magic _again_. Baegi the Corgi pup was sitting on the boy’s broad chest, trying to wake him up with little licks all over his face.

“Oh my God.” Dohyon rushed to the older boy and tried to lift him up. “Gosh, so heavy—Hyung, wake up! We need to do something!”

Failing to pick Hangyul up, Dohyon knelt down and pushed the body across the floor instead. Being the good boy he was, Baegi tried to help by pulling on his master’s pants with his little teeth.

“Get! Up!” Grunting and groaning, Dohyon pushed Hangyul’s body up from the back and tossed him onto the bed. Hangyul fell face down and bounced on the mattress with a dull thud.

“Baegi, move aside, I don’t want to crush you.” Dohyon waved his hand signaling the puppy to get out of his way as he took several steps back, preparing to launch himself. “I’m sorry, hyung, but desperate times call for desperate measures.”

And so, the giant teenager sprinted from the door towards the bed, and with a dramatic dolphin cry, jumped and flew so gracefully until he landed square on Hangyul’s back.

“GET UUUUUUP!”

“—Oof!!”

Being forced out of his unconsciousness all of a sudden, Hangyul gasped and wheezed like he had just been jolted back to life with a giant defibrillator, tightly clutching on his chest.

“D-Did you just try to kill your hyung??” The look of betrayal on Hangyul’s face didn’t earn Dohyon’s sympathy.

“Seungyoun hyung ran away!” the younger shrieked and clutched on his own head. “He turned into a cute Shiba and ran away! What do we do?? What if someone finds him and sells him to a stranger? What if he’s taken to a shelter? What are we going to say to his mum??” Dohyon buried his face in his hands. “This is all my fault, I shouldn’t have made you use your magic on him.”

Then that the scenes were finally jumping back into his foggy mind, Hangyul began to hyperventilate all over again.

“No, it’s my fault.” His hoarse voice was almost as thin as a whisper. “I… I shouldn’t have practiced on a dog.”

Dohyon flicked his head up as he regained his common sense. “You have to try again, hyung.”

“W-What do you mean?”

“Try to use your magic again, to fix all this mess. You were too scared to do anything when you accidentally turned Mum and Dad into birds, but because you spent a long time not using your magic at all, you’ve become worse at controlling it now! Don’t repeat that, hyung, please try again. Although he’s so annoying, Seungyoun hyung deserves to have his normal human life back.”

Hangyul looked down at his own open hands in horror. Their purple light was fading and flickering; it was happening again, as if his power was also traumatized and trying to hide out of guilt, like he himself really wanted to do at the moment.

“It’s weakening,” he whispered, “I won’t be able to do it.”

Dohyon clicked his tongue and shook his head. “You haven’t even tried.” He grabbed the older boy’s hand and led him out of the room, downstairs to their mini library. Hangyul could foresee what was about to happen when Dohyon pushed a particular bookshelf aside, revealing the plain blank wall behind it. At first glance, there seemed to be nothing there, and yet when Dohyon pressed his palm against a certain area of the wall, that part emerged from the surface in form of a box. He placed his pinky finger on the bottom of that box – there was a hidden fingerprint reader there. After exactly five seconds, a section of the floor, near the bookshelf in the corner, opened up revealing a secret stairway that led to an underground room.

“You still remember.” Hangyul took a deep breath and rubbed his palms together nervously. “It’s been forever since the last time we went there.”

“I may be just a commoner, but I can be a reliable assistant, just like Mum.” Dohyon gave the older a small reassuring smile before leading their way down the stairs. At the bottom, he found some switches on the wall, all of which he flicked with a single swing of his hand; all lights turned on, and the floor above closed up.

The underground room pretty much looked like a library too, just _way_ bigger than the one upstairs. The mahogany shelves were taller and the books in them were thicker. It was the place where Hangyul had spent a big portion of his childhood with his father, getting to know himself and the unfathomable power of magic sealed in him ever since he had come into being. He still remembered how he had pinched himself thinking he had been dreaming when his father had revealed the whole backstory of his power. As a young wizard, his father had been clumsy too with his magic, but _very_ ambitious. So, with an ultimate goal of being the most powerful wizard in Seoul – not that their presence was ever known by the _commoners_ – he had stolen a potion book that had belonged to his father, Hangyul’s grandfather. Using his father’s ancient cauldron, he had made a potion in order to enhance his magic power, yet with his clumsiness, some mistakes had been made in the process without him even realizing it. In result, nothing seemed to have happened after he had drunk a whole bottle of glowing light purple potion – not until several years later, when his commoner wife had given birth to a magic baby, Lee Hangyul.

Upon the birth of this one special baby, his mother had completely lost her fertility, hence why Dohyon had been adopted several years later.

Waves of nostalgic feelings washed over Hangyul as he walked through his father’s library. He saw the ancient cauldron, untouched and coated in dust in the corner, and he thought, _That’s where my power was created._ The more old items he found there, the more he missed his parents. It wasn’t that they were gone for good, though. Just that, after ten months of being stuck in the form of doves, they completely behaved like real birds now, having no emotional connection with their boys. Perhaps it would happen the same way with Seungyoun too, if they let him be.

They stopped in the middle of the room, where there was a giant glass sphere planted into an emerald green marble table. Their father used to bring them there to settle their sibling dispute, whenever they had had a childish quarrel and blamed each other. Through the sphere, which they used to call _The Ball of Truth,_ their father had summoned the scenes of what had actually happened between them. That way, he had educated his kids to always be honest and tell the truth, before The Ball of Truth could tell it first and bring shame to them.

However, as Hangyul had grown older, he had learned that it wasn’t the sphere’s sole purpose; not only to see the past, but also the present, and the future. Therefore, as a young teenager, he had made the most out of it to _stalk_ his crushes. Which had gotten him scolded by his father on a daily basis, of course.

The only function of it that Hangyul hadn’t learned was to see the future. His father had deemed him not ready yet for that.

But now, he wasn’t going to try and see the future. No, Dohyon didn’t take him there for that, because the younger knew it would be absolutely impossible especially in that state.

He only asked, “Can you see where he is right now? Or, at least, a clue of a place that he passed by?”

Nervously shifting from foot to foot, Hangyul hovered his hands over the sphere. His jaw clenched as he bowed his head and shut his eyes, trying to gather up all the courage and concentration he could hold. A very blurry image faded in and out inside the glass ball, until it vanished completely as Hangyul dropped his hands in defeat.

“I can’t.” He gulped hard and sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“No, hyung, don’t give up just yet. It was starting to show!” Dohyon paced back and forth, agitated that the older gave up so easily. How else should he encourage him?

Suddenly, he stopped pacing. His arms were then locked around Hangyul’s body. The older sibling was dumbstruck.

“It’s okay, hyung. You didn’t mean all of this to happen, right? Try slowly, you can do it.”

“…O-Okay.”

At least, now Hangyul felt a little lighter in his chest. It was the feeling of still being loved even after messing up that made him want to try again, try his best.

Even though his best at the moment wasn’t enough to solve the whole problem, it _did_ help them get the felief they desperately needed.

In the magic sphere, there was a back view of a lean figure, a slender male, walking and carrying a Shiba Inu in his arms. They could hear the distant soothing voice of the male, saying, _“Are you sick, puppy? You look so weak… You won’t mind if I check you for a bit, will you? Let’s wait here… Maybe your owner will come and look for you.”_

They would have definitely come and get Seungyoun, if only they had known the exact place. Sadly, what they could see were only the sidewalk and some trees, which could be literally _anywhere_ in Seoul. That was the only view they could get for the meantime.

“At least he was found by a nice guy,” Dohyon said as they went back upstairs. Hangyul blew out a big sigh of relief.

“You’re really awesome, hyung.” Dohyon flashed a proud, adorable smile that made the older boy shy. “We can go look for him and that guy tomorrow. Since it’s Sunday tomorrow, we can spend all day... Now, there’s one more thing we should figure out.”

“Hm?” Hangyul raised his eyebrows. “What is it?”

“His mum.” Dohyon stopped in his track. “We should tell her something, shouldn’t we? She must be getting worried about Seungyoun hyung.”

“What should we say, though? She won’t buy it if we say her son turned into a dog and ran away.” The more Hangyul thought of the idea, the more concerned he became. “Actually, I don’t think we should talk to her… Not before we do something about this. If we go there and talk about Seungyoun hyung, she’ll figure out that we’re related to his disappearance.”

Dohyon sighed and violently rubbed his face. “This kinda sounds like we’ve murdered someone.”

“ _Arf_?”

“W-Whoa!” The siblings jumped out of shock hearing the little bark beneath them, thinking it could be Seungyoun. No, it was just their baby Corgi, happily wagging his tail and beaming up at them.

An invisible light bulb popped up above Dohyon’s head. “Hyung… I’ve got an idea.”

For some reasons, Hangyul didn’t feel so good about the said _idea._

“It’s… Remember when you used your magic to change the appearance of a bowl of broccoli into a bowl of fried chicken? You tricked me so I would eat vegetables.” Dohyon paused and gawked, realizing how much of a briliant idea he had. “You can… You can use the magic of illusion to mask the appearance of anything! I know you’ve mastered it, it was one of the first skills you learned!”

Hangyul’s jaw fell slack. “Don’t tell me…”

Two pairs of eyes slowly fell on the oblivious puppy.

“…Yes, hyung… Let’s put a Cho Seungyoun mask on Baegi.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay phew that was the chaotic nonsense I wrote! lmao I made myself laugh when the toilet part came into mind, I am terribly sorry Cho Seungyoun but all that suffering was the most fun to write :D honestly this story is so spontaneous, I just let the characters decide what they want to do as I write. So, yeah, Hangyulie and Dohyonie decided to use an illusion on Baegi to trick Seungyoun's mum! It's gonna be an even bigger mess, you can tell, right? lol and also, it somehow got a bit sad with Seungseok... idk why but this ship kinda matches that concept? something cute that can also make you feel frustrated and thirsty for more. :).
> 
> Anyways, just like my other story here (a straight Wooseok fic about DID/multiple personality disorder), guess I'll update this story weekly. It's usually around Friday-Sunday, sometimes on Monday if I have too much on my plate.
> 
> Thank you so much for the kudos and comments! Pls wait for the next (chaotic) update! :D


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I am so sorry for taking ages to update this story! My writing style has changed somehow and I don't like it (I tend to focus too much on physical movements and less on feelings. If anyone understands MBTI, I'm an ISTP). It shows a lot in my other story but I tried to make it better here. To make up for the long wait, here's the longest chapter in this fic so far! There are a few parts that you'll see from two perspectives, Seungyon & Wooseok's POV vs Hangyul & Dohyon's POV. Make sure you read until the end to discover some little secrets :> Enjoy!
> 
> EDIT: I TOTALLY FORGOT THAT I HAD USED SEUNGWOO'S CHARACTER IN THE FIRST CHAPTER AS SEUNGYOUN'S FRIEND AND I MADE HIM A STRANGER IN THIS CHAPTER LMAOO FATAL MISTAKE PLS FORGIVE ME :(( I've fixed his part so that Seungyoun recognized him and Wooseok found him familiar too 😇

_(Seungyoun & the Corgi that he often posted on Instagram)_

* * *

Seungyoun woke up feeling like his bladder was about to burst. After a deep, dreamless sleep for solid ten hours, he had forgotten that he was no longer a sleepyhead guy, but instead a sleepyhead dog who still managed to sleep in on a beautiful sunny Sunday. His first reaction upon realizing his new form was springing up on fours out of utter shock, in a messy bed that belonged to Kim Wooseok, his classmate, who was nowhere in sight at the moment.

_“Aww, man… It wasn’t just a nightmare!”_ The Shiba whined in agony.

The door swung open and Seungyoun nearly peed himself. The owner of the room threw his bathrobe off as soon as he walked in, exposing his lean, surprisingly toned body that was covered only by a pair of skinny black jeans and nothing else on the upper part.

“Oh, you’re awake!” Wooseok laughed, happy to see the dog. Having an animal in the house still felt so thrilling to him, he thought he might squeal, if not for his manly image. No, actually, what manly image? He didn’t need that when he was alone.

“Did you pee? You didn’t pee in my bed, did you?” There he went again with his cutesy child-like voice. “I’m going to pick some nice clothes, don’t look!”

Being obedient, Seungyoun lay back down and covered his eyes with his paws. _“I really need to pee… but I can’t open that door and I don’t feel like seeing your nice tummy from below, so hurry up and get dressed and open the door for me!”_

Well, who was he kidding? Of course Wooseok wasn’t going to rush when it came to choosing his outfit of the day.

“Woody, which one is better?” Wooseok poked his head out from his walk-in closet, holding two outfits – a red cardigan and a blue plaid long sleeve shirt, both paired with a white tee.

_“Anything looks good on you, just pick any!”_ The dog whimpered. _“Oh goodness, I really need to go now.”_

Seungyoun jumped off the bed and went to paw on the closed door. His whines managed to catch Wooseok’s attention.

“Do you want to get out, Woody?” he asked. “Wait a minute, let me put this on. Even though you’re just a dog, it’s embarrassing to let you see me uncovered like this. I’m a shy guy.”

Wooseok came after quickly throwing on his white shirt and red cardigan, but alas, it was too late. Seungyoun was close to bursting into tears as his paws got wet with his own leak.

Wooseok gasped at the sight of the yellow puddle newly formed on the white floor. “You peed!” He panicked and ended up snatching his own towel – the first thing he spotted – to clean the floor.

“Ahh, were you holding it in? I’m sorry,” he said while wiping the dog’s paws.

It was much of a humiliating way to start the day, Seungyoun thought. Seeing the look on Wooseok’s face once he finally realized the state of his soaked up towel – probably his favourite towel – made Seungyoun feel absolutely terrible, and he just wanted to run away from Wooseok’s presence. No matter what form he was in, a human or a dog, he always managed to embarrass himself around the person he secretly admired.

On the other hand, Wooseok seemed rather upset with himself instead, feeling incapable as a pet owner. “Can I really take good care of a pet?” he mumbled to himself, “I need to do better… otherwise I won’t be able to prove them wrong. They _are_ wrong, I’m more than that.”

Seungyoun couldn’t pinpoint whom Wooseok was talking about. Was it his parents? It could be, but from how irritated he sounded, it could also be someone else… some people who looked down on him, for whatever reasons.

Both Wooseok and Seungyoun left the house that morning in a mood that was certainly not the brightest. Nonetheless, it quickly changed as soon as they arrived at a park near where Wooseok had found the Shiba. It was a perfect day to go out, enjoy the sun and the mild autumn breeze. The beautiful park’s atmosphere was much brighter than it was on weekdays, with quite a lot of visitors and their adorable pets roaming around and about. Seungyoun was giddy with excitement – he was a dog lover himself, as a human he would have squealed and run to a random stranger’s dog for a quick, shameless petting. Inadvertently, he was shifting from paw to paw, licking his own nose, and wagging his tail vigorously as Wooseok held him back with an adorable paw print light blue leash that he had bought on the way.

_“Look, there’s a Corgi! Aaahhh! It’s so cute! Wooseokie, you see that fluffy cheesecake butt? It’s so cute!”_ The Shiba began to bounce and bark. _“There’s a Pom too! Aahhh a walking cotton candy! Let’s go, let’s go there!”_

Wooseok laughed seeing the dog’s bubbling excitement, happy yet also somewhat concerned. “Woody, calm down! Before we go there, promise you won’t jump on other dogs. Don’t attack them, okay? You can play and make friends, but be a good boy. You got that?”

“ _Ruff!_ ” Seungyoun answered with a happy bark as his temporary owner ruffled his head.

Perhaps the natural dog instinct was starting to kick in. Losing himself for a brief moment, he went running and dragged Wooseok down the pathway towards another Shiba Inu, a black one that was about the same size as him, playing catch with a tall young guy in a loose white sweatshirt. Seungyoun stopped behind the other dog, lowered his front legs to the ground and barked to catch its attention, tail wagging like a windshield. The black Shiba was pleasantly surprised by the presence of a potential new playmate. It didn’t take long until they were barking and jumping around each other.

Unlike the dogs, Wooseok wasn’t that much of a social being. Well, he wasn’t an extreme introvert either, he could have sworn he was proven as an extrovert by a particular personality test – which he had taken multiple times with different results, some of which were introverted personalities, which he had refused to accept. But a situation like this was what really spoke the truth; when two dogs were getting to know each other, and their awkward owners had to stand there, watching them and holding their leashes, having no clue of whether or not they should start their own interaction.

In Wooseok’s defense, the other guy looked sort of intimidating. His bangs were covering his eyes, and his loose shirt revealed a little too much skin that Wooseok could see the tattoo below his collarbone peeking. He might have more of that on his body. Wooseok gave him nothing more than a small smile and a subtle bow, just not to be rude.

_He seems kind of familiar, though?_ Wooseok thought, yet he couldn't pinpoint where he had seen the guy.

“Shibas are cute, aren’t they?” the other guy started a conversation, to Wooseok’s surprise. His voice was bright and friendly despite his cold eyes.

“Y-Yeah, they are.” Wooseok averted his gaze to the dogs and rubbed his nape, feeling awkward. One might find it hard to believe that he was a talkative Youtuber at first encounter like this.

“What’s your dog’s name? Is it a male or a female?” the other asked again.

“Ah… It’s a male, and he’s not mine,” Wooseok said. “He got lost and I found him around here yesterday. I don’t know his name, but for the meantime I call him Woody.”

“Oh, poor guy,” the taller man said, “his owner was so reckless. Well, at least he was found by a nice person.”

Being cautious, Wooseok tried to read the stranger’s smile, since it looked hella suspicious. Or maybe it was just what his regular smile looked like. Meanwhile, at last, Seungyoun came back to his senses the moment he felt his new playmate sniff on his rear. He froze up trying to process the situation, and then slowly moved his butt away from the other dog’s face. He knew he had initiated an unwanted relationship when the black Shiba insisted on tailing his butt and trying to sniff it.

_“Shoo, stop smelling my butthole!”_ Seungyoun barked. _“Look, we can get acquainted, but we’re not doing it your way, mate. I am NOT in for this sniffing ritual. Shoo, shoo! Wooseok, help me!”_

“Well, my dog is a female,” the stranger continued, “her name is Alice.”

“An English name too.” Wooseok nodded and smiled, stealing worried glances at the panicking male dog. “That’s a pretty name.”

“Thank you, and my name is Seungwoo. Han Seungwoo. What’s yours?”

Hearing the name, Seungyoun froze up, and then flicked his head up in surprise. _"SEUNGWOO HYUNG?!"_ He had just realized that it was his own senior.

_Oh, so we have an introduction now,_ Wooseok thought. “Kim Wooseok,” he answered.

“That’s a pretty name as well… A pretty name for a pretty person.” Seungwoo chuckled. “Wooseok, what do you do?”

_"Wait a minute."_ Noticing the conversation going on, Seungyoun stopped and narrowed his eyes at his senior. _"Wow, that's_ _smooth, hyung. Are you trying to flirt with my owner? Well, temporary owner, but anyways, he took me here to play and not to hit on a stranger and his clingy doggy. Wooseokie, let’s go!”_

“I’m a college stu—Whoa!” Wooseok’s words were cut off by his Shiba’s sudden force, tugging hard on his leash as he tried to run away. His power was enough to drag Wooseok away from his spot like a lightweight piece of stick. The slender guy turned his head back to the shocked and somewhat dejected stranger, waved, and shouted, “I’m sorry, see you around!”

Wooseok thought it was pretty rude to leave just like that, yet he couldn’t say he wasn’t relieved that his Shiba had saved him from an unwanted, prying conversation and a potential flirting session. Therefore, instead of scolding Seungyoun, he rewarded him with a nice pat on the head.

“Good boy.” He giggled. He was happy, Seungyoun was happy, there was nothing to complain about.

They stopped at a bench and Wooseok prepared his vlogging gear; a mini tripod, a camera, and a small microphone attached to it. He picked an empty grassy area as his set, where some dogs could still be seen playing far in the background. He sat cross-legged on the ground, and without being told to, Seungyoun plopped his butt down next to him, giving the camera a happy face even though it wasn’t recording yet. Getting featured in his favourite Youtuber’s video; who wouldn’t get excited? Right, technically his face wouldn’t be seen, but still, the Shiba Inu in Kim Wooseok’s video was Cho Seungyoun and not any other dogs. That fact alone was enough to bring joy to his little puppy heart.

Wooseok wrapped an arm around the dog’s body and greeted the camera with a vibrant smile. “Hey, everyone! Back again with me, Kim Wooseok, on my channel _Seok’s FooDiary._ Now, you must be wondering, who’s this handsome guy next to me?” He patted Seungyoun’s head, and they gave each other a smile. “Is he my new pet? Well, the answer may depend on you. I dare say this guy is one of the smartest dogs you can find, but, too bad… he was separated from his owner! I found him just a day before I record this, and if you think he might be your lost pet, or if you know someone who might be the owner, keep watching! We’ll get to the details soon and take a closer look of this special Shiba Inu. Before we move on, don’t forget to click the subscribe button and turn on the notifications so you won’t miss my latest updates. Thanks!”

As rehearsed, Wooseok and Seungyoun got up and ran into the background. The Youtuber fished out a tennis ball from the pocket of his cardigan and tossed it towards the dog, a little too high, but Seungyoun managed to jump and swiftly catch the ball in his mouth. Happy that they succeeded on first try, Wooseok beamed and rewarded the Shiba with another pat on the head before they left the frame and went offscreen.

“Woody, you’re awesome!” Wooseok knelt down and cupped Seungyoun’s face, giggling. “That was perfect. You’re really smart! Should I really make this video? I’d rather keep you for myself.”

Seungyoun would have blushed. Wooseok really made him feel special with the praises, saying things that he would never hear from anyone but his own mother, as a human. The vlog recording that day was fun for both of them. Especially once the pee incident was long forgotten, Seungyoun’s playfulness pushed away Wooseok’s worries about getting flawless footages. He managed to put the perfectionist at ease.

“Woody, catch!” Wooseok threw a blue frisbee for the umpteenth time, this time intentionally sending it a little too far. As soon as Seungyoun turned and dashed towards the flying toy, Wooseok hid behind one of the trees. His camera was capturing the whole scene from several meters away. He had switched the microphone to a small one that was attached to his shirt.

“Let’s see if he can find me,” he whispered and giggled.

Seungyoun picked the toy up from the ground with his mouth and happily ran back to their previous spot. But then, he came to an abrupt halt.

_“Wait, where’s Wooseokie?”_ The Shiba turned his head to the camera. It was still there, but where was the owner? He was nowhere in sight. _“It can’t be that flirty hyung again... He couldn’t have come and snatched Wooseokie in the middle of our filming.”_

At heart, Seungyoun was never really a jealous person. Perhaps it was the protective, possessive nature of a dog that caused the unpleasant feeling just from the idea that his _owner_ might have left him to be with another person. He began to run about and look for Wooseok, still with the frisbee in his mouth.

“His confused face is so cute.” Wooseok made tiny squeaking sounds as he suppressed his laugh. “Should I come out?”

Seungyoun stopped, looked around, and whimpered. _“He couldn’t be abandoning me here, could he… I gave him a hard time this morning. But he can’t leave his camera here! Or maybe he can… Maybe it’s the cheapest one in his collection.”_

“Aww.” Wooseok cooed. “Let’s wait for a bit, I want to see if he can find me on his own.”

It took a while, but finally Seungyoun realized that he was a dog with a dog’s nose that he could use. Bringing his muzzle down to the ground, he began to sniff around and search for Wooseok’s scent. He remembered the manly yet soothing scent of his perfume, as well as his own natural scent that he had inhaled so much last night.

“Oh, he’s coming this way!” Wooseok whispered in surprise and excitement.

The stronger the scent Seungyoun could smell, the harder his tail wagged, until he spotted the tip of a white sneaker behind a tree.

_“Ahhh Kim Wooseok, you’re still here!”_ the Shiba ran to the tree and jumped at Wooseok, who then laughed heartily as he caught the dog and lifted him up in his arms. Seungyoun was overjoyed, he barely held himself back when his instinct made him shower Wooseok’s face with big wet licks.

“Woody, it tickles!” Wooseok giggled, again making squeaking sounds that Seungyoun was growing fond of.

_“Don’t play such trick on me ever again! I thought you had left me for real!”_ Seungyoun whined, laying his muzzle on Wooseok’s shoulder.

This whole scene was definitely going to be in the Youtuber’s next content update. Even though it was only their first time playing outside together, anyone could see how much they liked each other, as if Seungyoun had been Wooseok’s own pet all along. Wooseok thought, while it didn’t feel right for him to think so, that if the true owner ever saw the video… he wished they would consider letting him have the dog.

Once they both had run out of energy, Wooseok wrapped up the filming, put Seungyoun’s blue leash back on, and left the park, feeling relieved that he didn’t run into Han Seungwoo again on his way.

“Woody, before going home, I’m taking you to meet someone special,” Wooseok said as they walked down the sidewalk.

The skips in Seungyoun’s steps became just _a little_ less lively. He looked up and found a grin on Wooseok’s face. _“Someone special? Who is it? I thought you didn’t have a lover…?”_

“It’s Yohanie!”

_“Hold on… You mean Kim Yohan is your lover??”_

Seungyoun didn’t know why his mood dropped when Wooseok didn’t even give an answer to that question, which he obviously couldn’t hear. And besides, even if Wooseok _did_ have a lover, who was he to get upset about it? And _why_ would he get upset about it? Seungyoun didn’t understand himself. Had he become overly possessive towards his _owner_ upon his transformation into a dog? Or could it be that he felt a little _betrayed,_ because he had expected Wooseok to be single when he had said that Seungyoun was the first living thing he had ever cuddled? Perhaps Seungyoun had taken it as something in common between them, both being lonely guys, but it turned out that Wooseok had _someone special_...

Seungyoun felt like banging his dog head onto the pavement. Why was he even thinking _that_ much about it? He even got suspicious when Wooseok started to get busy with his phone, while he wasn’t even texting anyone, but instead requesting a ride on an app. Soon, they stopped at one point and their ride was there; a pet taxi. Seungyoun hadn’t even known that this kind of ride had existed before. Of course, most normal taxis wouldn’t let dogs on board, and Wooseok couldn’t take him on other public transports as well without a crate.

Seungyoun understood why they couldn’t walk to their destination after a while into the ride; it was pretty far away. The closer they were to the place, the more familiar the streets were to Seungyoun.

It was the same direction as his home. Suddenly, he remembered that he had to go back and see his mother.

But sadly, the taxi went further past the neighborhood, until they reached a martial arts club nearby.

“Did you enjoy the ride, Woody? Yohanie told me about the pet ride app and I decided to give it a try,” Wooseok said once they had gotten off the car, standing outside the club.

At this point, Seungyoun had had his focus scattered all over the place. He was visibly anxious.

_“My mum... I need to see my mum...”_

“Oh? You don’t look so well... Did the ride make you feel sick?” Wooseok squatted down and held the Shiba’s face, observing him in concern. “Let’s go home soon, then. Yohanie just wanted to see you.”

Seungyoun had an urge to run away. He knew his way home from there. But would he leave Wooseok like that? He remembered how awful he had felt when he had thought that Wooseok had left him alone at the park earlier. Seeing Wooseok’s gentle smile, he didn’t have the heart to wipe that off his handsome face.

_“I guess I’ll just find a way to make you take me home after seeing your Yohanie… It’s not that I want to leave you, I just need to let my mum know what has happened to me. She must be looking for me too… I dropped my phone outside Dohyonie’s house yesterday.”_

“I really should find a dog dictionary.” Wooseok sighed and smiled helplessly, unable to understand the dog’s little noises. Seungyoun couldn’t help but give him a lick on the cheek.

“Wooseok hyung!!”

Both of them turned to see a tall handsome boy at the club’s door, wearing a taekwondo uniform with a black belt, grinning and waving at them with his whole arms.

“Oh, Yohanie!” Beaming as well, Wooseok stood up and returned a small wave as the younger male ran towards him.

In a dog’s perspective, from down below, Yohan simply looked mighty and charming. He was tall and lean, had perfect body proportion, muscular even, could be seen from his pectoral muscles that peeked behind the low cut of his uniform.

_“I’m muscular too,”_ Seungyoun thought, _“just… not in this state.”_ Right, what he had at the moment was a fluffy belly.

“Yohanie, this is Woody,” Wooseok introduced the two, “Woody, this is my friend, Kim Yohan. We went to the same middle school.”

_“Only friends?”_ Seungyoun wondered. _“Why is he special then? Ah… Special friend? Like, best friend?”_

“Ah, you’re the magic dog that Wooseok hyung keeps talking about!” Yohan clapped his hands happily seeing the Shiba Inu, and crouched down to his eye level. “Can I touch you?”

_“It’s actually Woodz, Cho Seungyoun, but go ahead and call me by that silly name too.”_ Seungyoun let his tongue roll out and panted in bliss when Yohan scratched him under the chin, knowing that would be a sweet spot. _“Ohhh, yessss. Call me by that silly name.”_

“Good boy!” Yohan laughed. “Wooseok hyung, I’m going to get changed now. Wait for a moment, okay?”

“Sure.” Wooseok answered with a sweet smile.

Seungyoun’s plan to lead Wooseok to his home had to be held up when he was brought to a dog-friendly restaurant instead, as Wooseok and Yohan had their stomachs rumbling for food already. Well, at least he got to eat a nice meal too.

“He’s _really_ smart, Yohan, you need to see the tricks he did today!” Wooseok gushed about the Shiba while their cheeks were stuffed with food. He took out his camera and showed Yohan the footages he had managed to record at the park.

“Whoa! Whoa, that’s so cool! He can jump so high!” Yohan pulled a dorky shocked face every time Wooseok showed him another cut of Seungyoun’s action.

Meanwhile, the dog himself stayed on alert, keeping his round eyes on the other dogs around him. He didn’t want to have another unwanted doggy-style introduction like what he had had with Alice, Han Seungwoo’s black Shiba. At the moment, there were a fluffy cloud-like Bichon Frisé and a beautiful Samoyed staring back at him, and just in case, Seungyoun wished that none of them was in heat.

Anyways, although Wooseok and Yohan were talking about him, Seungyoun felt like a third wheel on their lunch date, sitting next to Wooseok at their table.

“Ahh, you really make me think of Cappu and Ccino again,” Yohan whined, “now I _really_ want to adopt them.”

“Both of them?” Wooseok asked, wide-eyed. “Yohan, it’s not easy to take care of even just one puppy! And besides, you’re still busy with college entrance exam preparation.”

“I know… But Cappu and Ccino are inseparable! You can’t go to a coffee shop and say, ‘I want a Cappu, please,’ or ‘I want a Ccino, please.’ It’s always Cappuccino.” Yohan stomped his feet under the table and his full lips stuck out into a pout as he made upset child-like noises.

“Hey, stop acting like a baby.” Wooseok covered his full mouth with the back of his hand, his eyes curving up adorably while he held back his laugh. Seungyoun thought he had just melted a little bit inside.

Three seconds later, Yohan’s features brightened up altogether. “Ah, I know! Hyung can have one of them instead. Woody’s owner is going to find and take him back, right? After that, you’ll need a new puppy to replace him.”

_“Replace me… How could you say that so easily?! I see, so that’s how it is, huh._ ” It was time to use the ultimate weapon; producing the saddest whining and whimpering sounds ever, Seungyoun bowed his head and lowered his ears, showed the most adorable, wide, shiny chocolate ball-like puppy eyes to Wooseok as he pawed on his arm, and lastly, nuzzled that temporary owner of his on the side of his neck.

“Oh my— aww, my Woody is sad!” Wooseok put his fork down and hugged the dog’s head, puffing out his cheeks and pouting as well. “You see, Yohan? Woody can understand everything we say! He’s sad because you said I’d get a new puppy to replace him. Don’t say ignorant things like that! I’m going to keep him as long as I can, because I’m a hundred percent sure he likes me as much as I like him. Don’t you, Woody?”

_“In your face, Kim Yohan.”_ Seungyoun cracked an evil smirk mentally as he glanced at the boy, who was gawking so hard after being scolded by the older. Getting a lick on his cheek, Wooseok cupped Seungyoun’s face and rewarded him with a nice neck scratch, back again with his happy child-like sounds.

“Ah… But…” Yohan scratched his ear. “What if his owner comes to get him sooner than you think? Say, a day after you upload the video.”

“I’ve been thinking about that.” Wooseok nodded. “That is why!” He hit the table lightly. “I’m going to…..” Looking doubtfully at Yohan’s expectant face, he pressed his lips into a thin line, and finally released a guilty sigh. “…upload it next week.”

Both Yohan and Seungyoun were conflicted, but the latter was definitely and guiltily on the happier side. The video wouldn’t be much of a help to him anyway, since nobody knew that Woody the Shiba was Cho Seungyoun – other than his neighbours Dohyon and Hangyul, perhaps, if Dohyon still remembered what Seungyoun _exactly_ looked like after the transformation. He couldn’t be the only lost dog in Seoul, could he? And besides, Seungyoun doubted if those two knew Wooseok’s channel, or if they would even be interested in watching a flower boy’s channel. It might take some time until the video gained enough attention to reach those boys. Therefore, Seungyoun hadn’t put that much hope in the video in the first place.

He just loved the fact that he could be featured in his favourite Youtuber’s video.

“That doesn’t seem right, though...?” Yohan said, cocking his head. “His owner might be worried sick right now, hyung.”

“I know... But I like Woody so much! He might be smarter than any other dogs out there! What do I _dooo_??” It was Wooseok’s turn to stomp his feet under the table, sulking like a kid.

“Hey, stop acting like a baby,” Yohan quoted the older’s words, laughing his usual dolphin laugh.

_“Wow, Kim Wooseok...”_ Seungyoun was amazed. _“I really didn’t expect you to have this side. This much cuteness...”_ No, he wasn’t whipped, he assured himself.

_“Ruff!”_

Hearing a cheerful bark next to his seat, Seungyoun flicked his head to the source, and immediately scrambled into Wooseok’s lap as soon as he recognized the dog smiling brightly at him. A black Shiba.

“Oh, hi, Kim Wooseok! Fancy running into you like this.”

Han Seungwoo and Alice. They were miles away from the park, yet _still_ they managed to cross path like this. Wooseok and Seungyoun wanted to run away.

“Um, hi... Who is it again?” Wooseok played dumb. The confused Yohan shifted his gaze back and forth between the both of them.

Seungwoo cracked a high-pitched laugh and smacked his own forehead. “Ah, of course you don’t remember me! We barely talked about anything since your doggy dragged you away. Let me remind you then, I’m Han Seungwoo, we met at the park earlier. The one who said you had a pretty name.”

“What’s so pretty about his name? It’s a common name,” Yohan mumbled, genuinely confused. Wooseok gave him a flat, lifeless glance.

“Ah, right, I’ve just remembered. Pardon me.” Wooseok bowed a little in his seat, hugging his terrified dog, secretly glancing at Yohan’s empty dish. “I’m really sorry, but we were just about to leave.”

“We were?” Yohan asked.

“Yeah! We have somewhere to be, remember?” Wooseok begged through his pained grin before getting up from his seat. _We need to be home and safe from nosy strangers,_ he thought.

“Oh... That’s too bad.” Seungwoo shrugged and smiled, making way for Wooseok to leave the table. “See you next time, then?”

“See you.” Taking Yohan’s hand and holding Seungyoun in one arm, Wooseok offered a small, polite smile, and quickly disappeared through the door. Seungyoun stuck out his tongue mockingly over Wooseok’s shoulder, Seungwoo sighed, and Alice let out a sad whine.

“Hyung! What was that about??” Yohan tugged the older’s hand and stopped them from rushing down the sidewalk. “Why did we leave so suddenly? What’s wrong?”

Putting Seungyoun back down on his paws, Wooseok sighed. “Nothing... I just don’t like that guy. He seems suspicious. We were just talking about our dogs, and then suddenly he asked questions about me... Like my name, and what I do, stuff like that.”

“Wasn’t he just being friendly then? It sounds pretty normal to me! Those are some basic questions you ask when you wanna get to know someone new!” Yohan really couldn’t understand his older friend. “Aish, really, hyung... Even after being a Youtuber, you’re still bad with strangers. And you said your MBTI test result showed that you were an extrovert?”

“I’ve tried six times...” Wooseok mumbled and pouted. “Three times extrovert, three times introvert.”

“What— Why do you take that test like a hobby??” Yohan gaped. “Look, hyung, try once more with the utmost honesty and sincerity, and the result will be honest with you too. It’ll show that you’re 100% an introvert.”

Wooseok pouted harder. “You’re exaggerating.”

_“But that’s true,”_ Seungyoun thought, recalling his encounter with Wooseok at the store after the incident with the old lady. _“That you’re not... the friendliest with strangers. We were strangers.”_

All of a sudden, Seungyoun’s pointy ears erected and his black nose twitched, hearing a very familiar voice, and smelling a very familiar, feminine perfume scent in the air.

“Ah, really, why do you keep smiling, Seungyounie? You haven’t said anything since last night, but you keep smiling like this... Will you just tell me what happened?”

_“Mum... MUM!!”_

Seungyoun began to bounce on his four paws, run in circles, and bark gleefully once he spotted his mother, just leaving a restaurant nearby. Surprised by his sudden hyperactiveness, Wooseok followed the direction of the dog’s gaze.

Then, both Wooseok and Seungyoun froze up as they noticed another presence.

Behind the beautiful, petite middle-aged lady, there was a tall guy in a black baggy hoodie, a pair of old blue jeans, white Converse shoes, and a grey beanie, a big smile permanently plastered on his funny face.

“It’s Cho Seungyoun again,” Wooseok mumbled, irritated. “Why do we keep running into each other?”

Eyes wide in horror, the Shiba took shaky steps back until his rear bumped Wooseok’s legs. _“How... How could this happen? Is this a dream...? W-Who is that guy? Why are there two of me?! What’s he gonna do to my mum??! Mum... Mum, don’t trust him! He’s not your real son! It’s me, I’m over here!!”_

“Hyung, Woody is barking a lot... Could it be that those two are his owners??” Yohan said.

Woody, Cho Seungyoun’s dog? Now Wooseok’s urge to keep the Shiba was even stronger. “Can’t be... Woody deserves a much better owner.”

“What do you mean?” Yohan asked, “Do you know them?”

Wooseok wanted to hide the dog, but it was too late; the _fake_ Cho Seungyoun and his mother walked towards them, and they definitely saw the Shiba barking and struggling against the leash holding him back.

But to Wooseok’s surprise and Seungyoun’s dismay, the mother continued to walk past them... after giving the dog a look of disapproval.

Seungyoun’s doppelganger flashed a grin at them and went on tailing the woman as if he had no single burden in Iife.

“Cho Seungyoun...” Wooseok muttered, blinking in disbelief at the guy’s broad back. “...sure, let’s act like we’ve never met.” He turned to Yohan with a flat face. “No, I don’t know them. I don’t think they know Woody either. See how they’ve just walked away? Maybe Woody’s acting like this because he smelled something rotten on that guy.”

“...You really have a problem with strangers, don’t you, hyung?” Yohan squatted down and looked into the dog’s sorrowful eyes. “Oh— Woody’s crying! Why are you crying?? Are they really your owners? Could it be that... Did they abandon you? Are they prerending not to know you?”

Wooseok didn’t like this kind of situation. He didn’t like to feel guilty and _cornered,_ having to do something he didn’t want to _._ Acting rather on impulse, he scooped Seungyoun up into his arms and ran after the mother and son.

“Excuse me! Excuse me, ma’am!”

Seungyoun’s mother stopped and turned around, and so did Seungyoun’s replica. For some reasons, Wooseok felt like landing a fist or two on that goofy, smiley, dorky face that was somehow testing his patience.

“Yes? Can I help you?” The mother greeted with a welcoming smile. She had a warm and inviting aura, just like her son, Wooseok noticed.

“I’m sorry... Do you perhaps know this dog, by any chance?” While Wooseok went on giving the details on how and where he had found the Shiba, the short-haired woman observed the face and the whines that the dog was making as he was looking back at her with the saddest puppy eyes.

“He insisted on coming to you, so I thought maybe you might know him or anyone who could be his owner,” Wooseok finished his explanation, feeling an overwhelming amount of discomfort from the other guy’s intense stare on his face.

Seungyoun’s mother started with an apologetic smile. “I’m really sorry, I wish I could help, but I don’t recognize this dog. His face reminds me of my son, though.” She turned to the young man next to her and touched his arm. “Seungyounie, do you know the dog?”

To their surprise, Seungyoun’s fake copy cracked an open mouth smile and stuck his tongue out like a dog.

“Ah... You might think that my son has a mental problem, but that’s really not the case.” The mother chuckled in embarrassment. Suddenly she looked _very_ concerned. “He’s usually sweet and helpful, but he’s been like this since he came home last night... I thought, oh, maybe he’s just fallen in love? But it’s strange that he hasn’t said a word, while normally he talks more than I do... I think I should take him to the doctor. Ah, I’m sorry, why am I telling you my son’s problem? I hope you’ll find this dog’s owner soon.”

Right, Wooseok found the guy a bit off as well... not that he never seemed off whenever they met. He subtly shifted away when _Seungyoun_ brought his face closer and tried to sniff the air around him.

“It’s okay... Actually, I think I know your son. We are classmates in college.” Wooseok offered an uneasy grimace as the taller male’s face kept inching closer, until the woman tapped her _son_ on the back and told him to behave.

Seungyoun the Shiba narrowed his watery eyes at his doppelganger in suspicion. _“Back off, imposter… You’re ruining my already ruined image. Even as a human I never got to sniff Wooseokie!”_

“Oh, it’s great to know!” the small woman piped up. “He’s… never acted like this in class, has he?”

Wooseok shook his head hesitantly. “No.” _Your son is an ass, but I’ve never found him THIS creepy._

After talking for a short while, the mother decided to change her direction straight to a clinic instead of home. Before she walked away, though, her real son in form of a dog whimpered and wriggled in Wooseok’s arms, craning his neck, trying to reach her with his muzzle.

_“Mum, don’t leave… It’s me, I’m the real Seungyoun…”_

“You are right, he’s acting like he knows me,” the mother said to Wooseok. “Maybe I look like his owner? Should I come closer?”

“Ah, yes, please. If you don’t mind,” Wooseok said.

And so, despite being somewhat scared of the dog, Seungyoun’s mother bent over slightly and brought her face closer. Seungyoun wanted to hug and kiss her so bad. Still, knowing that she would be grossed out to get a lick, he restrained himself from giving more than just a loving rub of his fluffy face on her cheek.

_“I love you, Mum…”_

“Oh… How cute.” The lady allowed herself to touch the Shiba’s head, testing the waters before giving him a more confident, affectionate stroke on his forehead. A pure happy smile of a child found its way to her pretty youthful face, noticing how the dog’s eyes closed enjoying the touch. “What a nice boy! What’s his name?”

“Woody,” Wooseok answered. “I don’t know his real name, but I call him Woody.”

“Woody… Wood… Why does that sound a little familiar?” Unable to recall anything related to it, the mother shrugged it off.

_“It’s the ‘Woodz’ graffiti in my room, Mum.”_ Seungyoun mentally sighed.

Alas, his encounter with his mother that day couldn’t last any longer. With a new kind of despair consuming him, he let Wooseok take him back to the new place he had to call _home_ for the meantime… for an indefinite period of time.

* * *

_The previous night…_

“On second thought, hyung… This doesn’t really look like the _best_ idea.”

“You’re the one who came up with this _insane_ idea.”

Dohyon and Hangyul had been constantly questioning their morals for the past one hour. Before them was a whole grown man, sitting ungracefully on the floor, lifting one leg up and scratching the back of his head with his foot. He looked quite flexible and elastic for a human.

Hangyul sighed. “Baegi, stop scratching.”

Their Corgi pup, who had been masked with an illusion that mimicked their loud neighbour, put his leg back down and panted happily at them, which made him look sort of mentally challenged. On the brighter side, at least Hangyul’s _good boy_ spell on Baegi had made it a piece of cake to train him; he was super obedient, and just as much as Seungyoun the Shiba could understand human language and respond to it, Baegi could do the same.

First things first, before releasing him out of their secret _lair,_ Hangyul and Dohyon had to make sure to teach him everything necessary to prevent him from doing anything out of the ordinary that would be considered quite absurd.

Sitting cross-legged on the floor, in their massive underground library, the siblings brainstormed rules to teach Seungyoun’s doppelganger.

“First, now your name is Cho Seungyoun, not Baegi. So you have to respond when someone calls you Seungyoun,” Hangyul said. “Let’s test it. Get up and walk over there.”

Smiling like a dork, Baegi stood up and walked towards a bookshelf that Hangyul pointed at.

Then Hangyul called, “Hey, Cho Seungyoun!”

Baegi stopped walking, whipped around with a smile as bright as the sun, and ran back to the siblings ever so excitedly.

“Gosh, he looks much stupider than usual.” Dohyon sighed and ran his hand down his irritated face. “Why does he make me want to punch him?”

“It’s not suspicious if he looks stupid,” Hangyul said, trying to be positive, “that’s Seungyoun hyung’s normal trait.”

Dohyon thought for a moment. “Baegi… Can you not do anything that seems too… dog-ish? Like, don’t scratch, don’t pant, don’t sniff, don’t lick, don’t bite, don’t pee and poop everywhere, don’t bark… actually, don’t make any dog sounds. So just stay quiet, since you can’t speak… I guess? Hangyul hyung, can’t you make him speak human language?”

“I haven’t mastered language spells,” Hangyul said helplessly. “Right… It’s going to be a bit suspicious if he doesn’t talk. Seungyoun hyung talks like there’s no tomorrow. I guess I’ll start practicing that spell right away then… hopefully my magic will be strong enough soon.”

After listing several more rules they could think of, they equipped their fake Cho Seungyoun with one last magic item. Dohyon had discovered it among the piles of their father’s old magic stuff, after having recalled it from the memories of their early teenage years.

A _SpyFly_ that came in a set with a magic sphere, simply a magic fly with self-protection and shape-shifting abilities that could follow or stick on a person to spy on them. Their father used to use this as a threat and precaution to make sure his boys would not secretly watch porn in their rooms. When Hangyul had been younger, he had loathed this fly with his whole being.

The young sorcerer released the SpyFly into the fake Seungyoun’s hair and tested the view in the magic sphere. He could clearly see himself and Dohyon standing in front of Baegi.

“Well,” Hangyul said, letting out a burdened sigh for the umpteenth time, “I guess it’s pretty safe to let him go now.”

Dohyon responded with a doubtful nod.

“Seungyoun hyung, you can go to your new home now,” Hangyul said. “be good to your mum, okay?”

The siblings watched from their balcony as Baegi made his way happily to Seungyoun’s house. As soon as he was out of their sight, they went back in and watched over him through the sphere.

_“Oh, Seungyounie! You’re finally back. I’ve cooked your favourite food— Why are you smiling like that? Did something happen?”_

In the crystal ball, Seungyoun’s mother appeared with a curious smile on her pretty face. Getting no answers from her son, she insisted on asking the same questions, just to get the same goofy smile and nothing else.

“...We forgot to tell him not to smile too much.” Dohyon facepalmed. “Maybe Seungyoun hyung’s mum feels like punching him too now... The urge is just _too_ strong. We should tell him tomorrow, as soon as we meet him again.”

Soon, Baegi sat with the mother to have dinner together. Suddenly Hangyul and Dohyon had a _terrible_ feeling creeping up their spines.

“Wait a sec…” Hangyul’s mouth slowly fell open. “How is he gonna eat—”

_“Oh my God!! Cho Seungyoun!”_

The mother shrieked, while Hangyul and Dohyon flinched and winced as Seungyoun’s replica dug in and ate like some kind of ferocious animal with his whole mouth and tongue inside his bowl. The SpyFly moved from his head onto the table, giving them a clear view of his face; a creepy grinning face, with some red sauce smeared around his mouth and on his cheeks. He looked like Joker, or a cannibal, or a cannibal Joker.

“…Hyung, can we just take him back and erase her memory?”

“…I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

The siblings had their eyes trained on the magic sphere until the next couple of hours. Luckily, Seungyoun’s mother decided to pretend she hadn’t witnessed anything disturbing done by her boy and just call it a day, going to sleep earlier than usual, despite being somewhat creeped out.

_“Go to bed, Seungyounie. I guess there’s something wrong with you. Maybe you hurt your head or such… Tell me if you don’t feel well tomorrow morning, I’ll take you to the doctor.”_

After being left on his own, Baegi took his time exploring the house, getting familiar with the place until he found Seungyoun’s room. The door wasn’t properly shut, and he could see neon lights inside through the gap; blue, orange, green, yellow, and pink, beach and ocean-themed neon signs. Seungyoun had purchased them just a few days before, and put them on his wall a day before his transformation. He had loved them and the vibe they had brought to his room, so much that he had told his mother to let those lights stay on for a while. Baegi entered the room and explored inside. He stopped for a moment to admire the big _Woodz_ graffiti displayed on the wall; a cool, ocean-themed graffiti painted in light blue and orange, initially drawn on a white paper and then cut and pasted on a shiny, iridescent hologram paper that matched the neon colors in the room. Baegi liked shiny things, apparently.

Hangyul and Dohyon let themselves give in to their drowsiness only when Baegi had fallen asleep in Seungyoun’s bed.

Due to anxiety from the whole chaos, Dohyon jolted up from his sleep several hours later, right when Baegi had just stirred up from his slumber as well. It was fifteen minutes to eight in the morning. Hangyul was still asleep next to him, snoring with his mouth gaping so wide, Dohyon thought he could put his foot in it.

“Hyung… Hangyul hyung, wake up!” Dohyon rubbed the sleep out of his eye and shook the older boy by the shoulder. No reactions whatsoever. “Ugh… I’ll save up my pocket money to buy a stun gun for waking you up.”

For the meantime, he decided to go down to the kitchen, and later came back with a big bottle of hot sauce. Hot and spicy stuff was one of Hangyul’s biggest weaknesses. With his own eyes barely open, Dohyon opened the bottle’s cap and poured the content into his brother’s mouth.

“…..AWGH— GWAHH!!”

“MY GOD!!” Hangyul’s sudden zombie scream made Dohyon scream along. As if he had literal fire blazing in his mouth, the older boy groggily ran to the bathroom, stumbling on his own foot and falling down with a loud bang in the process. It wasn’t until ten minutes later did he come back with a big bottle of cold water, and without a shirt to cover his sweaty, shiny muscular torso.

“Do you _really_ want to kill your hyung??”

Dohyon put on an innocent hamster face in response.

“We need to update the illusion,” the younger said, pointing at the sphere on the bedside table. “ _Seungyoun hyung_ needs to change clothes. It’s a new day.”

“You woke me up by setting my mouth on fire at 7:45 on Sunday morning for _that_? Does he even change clothes on a daily basis??” Still feeling attacked, Hangyul walked over to the sphere to see that Baegi, in form of Cho Seungyoun, was having the time of his life rolling around in bed, getting himself wrapped in the blanket like a giant burrito.

“…Okay, maybe it was a little too early.” Dohyon raised his hands, pleading guilty.

“It _is_ too early.” Hangyul sighed and grabbed his shirt to wipe his sweaty chest. “I don’t know if I can _update_ the illusion.”

“Huh? Why??” Dohyon’s sleepy eyes widened.

“The distance.” Hangyul took a few more big gulps of his cold water. “He’s inside the house next door. I’ve never casted a spell from a distance bigger than from our kitchen to our front door, to teleport you in whenever you throw a tantrum outside.”

“Well… Try for the first time?” Dohyon gave a suggestion that sounded like the most obvious, easy solution. “Maybe stand in the balcony for a better magic signal.”

“You say it like I’m trying to connect to our neighbour’s wifi.” Hangyul did as suggested anyway; not even bothering putting his shirt on, he came out to the balcony and stood facing the house next door. As the mild breeze blew softly through his short hair, he closed his eyes, took a deep breath into his lungs, and let his muscles release all the tension, loosening up as he felt his dimming power flow weakly through his veins.

_Let’s do this… I can do this, my power is still here._

The sorcerer boy reached his right arm forward, eyes still shut, mouth whispering lines of spell. Tiny purple sparks of light appeared around the ends of his fingertips, until they became more stable and turned into small glowing beams with sparkling periwinkle dust that twirled in the air. Faint creases formed on his forehead as he tried harder to keep hold of his concentration.

Upon uttering the last word of his spell, his eyes fluttered open, hearing Dohyon’s happy screech behind him.

“Hyung, you did it!! He’s wearing different clothes now!”

Grey beanie, black baggy hoodie, worn out jeans, white sneakers. It was a typical Cho Seungyoun look that Hangyul had summoned from his memory.

_I did it…_

Smiling to himself, Hangyul gave himself a proud pat on the chest.

“See, hyung? Don’t be so quick to say ‘ _I can’t_ ’. You just had to _try for the first time._ There’s always a first time for everything,” Dohyon said.

“Yeah… I need to try new things more.”

Later, while having a meal together in the kitchen, the siblings continued to watch over Baegi as Seungyoun’s mother took him out for lunch at a restaurant. Apparently the woman was a quick-learner; recalling the way her _son_ had ungracefully savoured his dinner the previous night, she decided to feed him this time, just to be safe. No matter how weird it looked to strangers, a mother feeding her fully grown son wouldn’t be quite as weird as the fully grown son sinking his whole face into his food in public.

“It would be great if we could get a clue of where Seungyoun hyung could be right now,” Dohyon said, “from the places they go to. Maybe he has a favourite spot where he likes to hang out. He could be hiding there.”

“You’re right. Should we start searching around that restaurant? I know that place,” Hangyul said.

Fortunately, it turned out that they didn’t have to go out and search for Seungyoun after all, because the beautiful coincidence that happened next brought Seungyoun himself into their view. A Shiba and two handsome males, one of which looked like the slender figure they had seen in the larger crystal ball in their underground library; the guy who had first found Seungyoun the previous day. For once, the siblings felt like the heavens finally had some mercy on their pitiful souls.

“It’s Seungyoun hyung!” Dohyon exclaimed. “It’s definitely him, I remember the face, it really resembles him!”

They felt their hearts break a little seeing how hard Seungyoun was struggling against his leash, trying to come to his mother. The skinny yet pretty guy in red cardigan, who was holding him back, had to roll the leash twice around his tight grip. For some reasons, he wouldn’t let Seungyoun come near his mother and Baegi even until they had walked past him.

“Hyung… Hyung, do something! Hurry, we can’t lose him! His mum and Baegi are walking away!” Dohyon shook his big brother, whose mind had shortcircuited, unable to think straight and come up with an idea.

Once again, though, the heavens showed mercy on them; they were given extra time to think as the guy in red himself stopped Seungyoun’s mother and ran to her, carrying the dog bridal style.

_“I’m sorry... Do you perhaps know this dog, by any chance?”_

Hangyul and Dohyon sharpened their ears as the guy explained how and where he had found Seungyoun.

“That park is far away from here,” Hangyul said, recognizing the mentioned place, “how could he run that far? No wonder why he looked weak when this dude found him.”

“Hyung, he said he lived near that park… It’s a major clue!” Dohyon said.

They continued to listen attentively for more clues, and cringed a little when Seungyoun’s mother told the guy about the strange _changes_ that had happened to her _son_ since the previous night. They took mental note of the problems they had to fix later.

And then, they caught another important information.

_“It’s okay... Actually, I think I know your son. We are classmates in college.”_

“Ah, he’s Seungyoun hyung’s classmate! What a relief. I thought he was a bad guy when he held Seungyoun hyung back with the leash,” Dohyon said, rubbing his chest. “At least they know each other... He’s not a total stranger. Awesome coincidence, though.”

“I’m waiting for him to tell his name, it would be a big help to find him,” Hangyul said. “Why isn’t he telling his name? Why is Seungyoun hyung’s mum not asking his name?”

She asked Seungyoun’s name instead, after letting him rub his face on hers and petting him on the head.

_“What a nice boy! What’s his name?”_

_“Woody. I don’t know his real name, but I call him Woody.”_

_“Woody… Wood… Why does that sound a little familiar?”_

“Woody? Is he Woody Woodpecker?” Hangyul snorted. “Well, yeah, he’s as loud as that bird.”

Meanwhile, Dohyon fell silent upon the mention of the name, feeling familiar as well. It took a few seconds until he remembered, “His username on Youtube is Wood something… Woodzmwm or such. He showed me his comment that was replied by his favourite Youtuber. I don’t remember the Youtube channel’s name, though. If his mum finds it familiar, maybe she knows Seungyoun hyung’s username?”

Hangyul gaped in awe. “Whoa. How did he get this dude to name him correctly though?”

As the mother was about to say goodbye and make her way to a clinic, Hangyul and Dohyon panicked all over again.

“Hyung—Hyung, I know! Move the SpyFly to Seungyoun hyung! Hurry!” Dohyon came up with a brilliant idea out of the blue.

“But—But Baegi? We can’t watch over him then! He’s out in public! What if he does something stupid to Seungyoun hyung’s mum or other people?” Hangyul was torn. Baegi and the mother were about to part ways with Seungyoun, he had to make a decision that very minute.

Being the one with more brain cells of the two, Dohyon’s commoner brain was fast to search for alternative ways. “We have another SpyFly, right? Dad had two of them, to threaten each of us. I CAN’T think of any other ways. You need to move Baegi’s SpyFly to Seungyoun hyung _right now,_ hyung, and immediately go to that clinic his mum mentioned with the other SpyFly for Baegi! I’ll stay here and watch over the spheres since you can’t carry them around, and if there’s anything wrong, I’ll call you right away!”

Hangyul had a dumb panicked look on his face all the while his younger brother was explaining the emergency plan. Once Dohyon finished talking, though, Hangyul did as instructed; using the sphere, he controlled their magic fly and moved it away from Baegi’s head, until it safely landed on Seungyoun’s body. Now they could see Baegi and the mother walk away from the new point of view.

One part of the mission was successfully accomplished.

After getting the other SpyFly from the library, Hangyul dashed away with his bike, while Dohyon stayed in their secret underground space with two crystal balls; one showing the streets that Hangyul passed by, another one showing different streets, a view from inside a car. After a while, it was shown in the second sphere that they had arrived outside a beautiful, modern private house.

“Whoa… This guy is _rich_.” Dohyon gawked seeing the interior of the house.

Suddenly, the view was covered entirely by a beautiful face of a woman, who then gave Seungyoun a kiss on the head.

_“How was your day, Woody? Did you have fun? Ah, but why do you look a bit sad? Wooseokie, did something happen?”_

Dohyon perked up catching the name, the crucial information that Hangyul had been expecting. “Wooseokie. The guy’s name is Wooseok, and he’s rich. His mum is kind and pretty.” He sent a text informing his brother.

_“We ran into my classmate and his mum. I think Woody might have mistaken her as his owner…”_

Soon, the first sphere once again showed Seungyoun’s mother; a sign that Hangyul had successfully sent the other magic fly to Baegi. They were waiting at a clinic.

After playing with Wooseok and his mother for a moment, Seungyoun followed the guy to his bedroom. Once again Dohyon gawked seeing the mini recording set and the gaming corner in the room.

“He has this kind of room… Why is there a recording set? Oh, wait.” He paused and his eyes widened double times in realization. “Could he be… a Youtuber?? Don’t tell me… Is he the Youtuber who replied Seungyoun hyung’s comment?? His favourite Youtuber is his classmate?” He clutched his head and pulled on his hair. “Wait, wait, too much information… What is all this coincidence? How do I process this? Ahhh, why can’t I remember the Youtube channel’s name?? We could find even more important information there! Aish, I’m gonna need Hangyul hyung’s help to summon my memories back... Is there a spell for that?”

A strong urge pushed Dohyon to leave the spheres just for a moment and browse for a memory spell book in the shelves. He traced his index finger across the titles printed on the sides of the insanely thick books, until at one point, he stopped on a completely different title.

_Long Distance Magic._

_“_ Oh, hyung can learn this to change Baegi’s clothes from an even bigger distance! Oh, no, wait. Wait… He can do _anything_ from far away with these spells, right? Then… Then we don’t need to be at the same place as the target. Which means…”

At last, the teenage boy’s mind was finally opened, and everything became clear, he thought he could almost see the heavens.

“…We don’t need to know where he is. We can change Seungyoun hyung back into a human, wherever he is… right from _this_ place.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hangyul & Dohyon had finally made some progress! Now that Seungyoun & Wooseok had a little spy following them 24/7, they could say goodbye to privacy lol and apparently after finding the long distance magic book, Hangyul & Dohyon would alter their plans once again! Just imagine if Hangyul managed to turn Seungyoun back to normal at the WRONG time or place... witnessed by the person who had always been the witness of Seungyoun's questionable deeds?? lmao please wait for the next update to see how things will unfold!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, leaving kudos, & subscribing to this story! <3
> 
> P.S.: Have y'all watched Wooseok's webdrama "Twenty Twenty"? Lately he's been one of the most mentioned actors, I saw that he ranked 8th on the list and Twenty Twenty itself ranked 4th among recent top dramas :)) support actor Kim Wooseok! Flawless stunning visual in every episode <3


	4. Chapter 4

_(Ddadda the luckiest dog (╥_╥) heheu)_

* * *

Wooseok had never been so conflicted before. Three days had passed since his vlog filming with the lost dog that had quickly snatched his heart, and yet, no significant progress had been made. His conscience had been nagging at him, urging him to hurry and finish his editing so that the true owner wouldn’t be left hanging for too long, yet on the flip side, he thought perhaps he was a selfish person after all because his heart told him otherwise; _let’s just forget we’ve ever filmed that video._

It was as clear as the sky that his parents were falling hard for the Shiba too. They hadn’t asked even once about the progress of the planned Youtube content, until it was Seungyoun’s fourth day living in their house and they finally decided to bring it up. They tried their best to seem neutral about it, though.

“Wooseokie, have you posted the video yet? Has anyone contacted you?” his mother asked over dinner that evening.

“Um… Not yet, Mum. I haven’t finished editing the video yet,” he answered reluctantly.

“Well, our deal was one week, wasn’t it?” the mother said. “Tomorrow it’ll be five days already. You don’t have to make it perfect. His poor owner must be looking for him everywhere... Losing a dog is like losing a child, right?”

Right, and holding Seungyoun with him was like holding a child hostage, Wooseok realized. Had he lost his morals?

“We’ve also forgotten about something,” Wooseok’s father said. “You were looking for an apartment, weren’t you? Somewhere closer to school. Are you still sticking with your plan?”

Before running into the lost dog, Wooseok had had this plan to move out and have his own place to live. He was soon turning twenty, in a couple of weeks, a twenty-year-old adult. A typical college freshman who craved freedom and independence. However, this plan had been entirely forgotten once they had had an animal in the house.

“Until last Saturday, I had been comparing two places,” Wooseok said, “they had the best prices so far. Nice and comfortable, but not overly expensive.”

“Right... Make a decision and let us know, okay?” said the father.

“But... If you move out, you can’t take Woody to live in the apartment with you, can you?” Wooseok’s mother asked, carefully watching the change in her son’s expression.

“...Why not? Both places allow pets in.” Wooseok’s eyebrows raised slightly, though he didn’t let his suspicion show on his face. _Are you saying this because you want to_ _keep_ _Woody here?_

“Well, it’s just that when you get busy with college all day, he may get lonely waiting for you and playing on his own,” the mother said. “Are you sure you can take good care of him? That is, if his owner doesn’t come and take him back.”

“I’m a hundred percent sure,” Wooseok said, despite actually being not even fifty percent sure, given what his mother had just pointed out.

It was true, Woody was going to be lonely for sure, unless he skipped one or two classes and some student club activities every now and then. But without the dog being there to greet him when he came home, Wooseok would be the one to go through lonely days and nights.

Yes, perhaps he was selfish indeed.

“You can always drop him here when you have a full day ahead,” the father suggested.

For the meantime, they settled with that idea.

With a troubled mind, Wooseok returned to his room. A particular tiny fly flew from the door’s handle to the corner of the desk as he walked in and made his way straight to his bed, where Seungyoun had been taking a long nap.

The Shiba had a collar around his neck then, a light blue one with an adorable orange pattern. It looked fresh, just like the dog’s smile.

“Baby.” Wooseok sat on the edge of the bed and gently ran his hand from Seungyoun’s head to his back. The dog stirred in his sleep. Wooseok chuckled. “You’re realy a sleepyhead, hm? Haven’t you got enough sleep? It’s been four hours.”

The guilt arose once again when Wooseok saw his laptop. He had lied to his parents. It wasn’t that he hadn’t finished editing the video yet; he had finished it, but he just didn’t want to upload it.

However, looking at the dog’s innocent sleeping face, he was then haunted by his mother’s words.

_Losing a dog is like losing a child, right?_

He was keeping this _child_ from reuniting with his parent.

In the end, his conscience won the mental battle; though with a sad pout and glassy eyes, he finally published the video on his Youtube channel.

The little spy caught it all.

Somewhere on the other side of the city, a pair of siblings were meticulously watching the Youtuber’s doings through a magic crystal ball.

“Hyung, that’s the channel’s name! _Seok’s FooDiary.”_ Dohyon searched up the channel on the app right away.

“Name’s a little cringy,” Hangyul commented as he watched Wooseok’s laptop screen. “Nice thumbnails, though. Have you found it?”

“Here it is!” Dohyon showed his phone screen, and then scrolled down the list of videos. “Woah, he’s really handsome. So pretty. Is he not an idol?”

“Let’s wait until he’s done uploading that new one,” Hangyul said.

Dohyon swiped his thumb down the screen a few times to refresh the page until the thumbnail of the new video finally showed up; one that had funny pictures of a Shiba Inu and the Youtuber himself. The siblings opened the video immediately.

While they were busy watching, Wooseok did something out of the ordinary; he shut his laptop down and went to his bed instead of rewatching his video for the umpteenth time to make sure everything was perfect, like he always did.

Wooseok dropped himself on his belly and buried his face in his pillow. He wasn’t even sure if the true owner would ever find that video... but he cried a little.

To make things more dramatic, it started to rain out of nowhere.

He cried a little more.

“Hng.... Waaaahh!” He slammed his fists and his legs onto the bed like a giant bawling baby. At last, the bounce of the mattress woke Seungyoun up from his slumber.

_“Wooseokie...?”_ Seungyoun got up groggily and went to nuzzle Wooseok’s neck. _“What happened? I thought there was an earthquake.”_

Wooseok flipped around upon feeling the wet touch of the dog’s moist nose on his skin. His pretty face crumpled seeing the Shiba’s innocent yet concerned look.

“Woody!” Suddenly he pulled Seungyoun down and wrapped his limbs around the dog’s body, shocking the life out of him.

_“Oof— Wooseokie, I can’t breathe— Don’t kill me—“_

“I’ve posted the video.”

Seungyoun froze up, and the silent room was then filled only with Wooseok’s little sniffles.

_“Ah... You’ve posted it?”_ Again, for some reasons Seungyoun believed that the video wasn’t going to be much of a help. But still, he knew it wasn’t an easy thing for Wooseok to do. They had quickly grown fond of each other’s company so much.

Seungyoun squirmed around in Wooseok’s arms, until the hug was loose enough for him to pull himself up to Wooseok’s eye level. He began to lick the wet, salty trails left on the other’s cheeks, a helpless attempt to comfort him.

“I’m going to be lonely without you.” Wooseok cupped the fluffy, furry cheeks in his hands, and placed a kiss on the forehead. “You’re the cutest, smartest dog I’ve ever met.” Then he left another kiss, to Seungyoun’s surprise, on his mouth. “Why are you so cute?”

One kiss, two kisses, three kisses. Wooseok wouldn’t stop kissing and praising him. Seungyoun felt heat all over his body, he thought his puppy heart might combust. Before he knew it, he had started to reciprocate the kisses with licks on Wooseok’s puckered lips.

Meanwhile, Dohyon and Hangyul found themselves goggling like a pair of dead fish.

“...In our society, is it morally acceptable for a man and a dog to express love in a way that involves mouth-to-mouth physical contact?” Dohyon asked.

“...Don’t ask me hard questions... You don’t even find that kind of question in a national exam.” Hangyul covered the younger’s eyes and turned his own head away. Still, he stole glances anyway. “Why are they not stopping? This must be what parents feel when watching a movie with their kids and an adult scene comes up... The awkwardness is mutual.”

Wooseok found himself liking the licks. Eventually, a tiny smile was back on his wet lips.

But the buzz in the pocket of his pants easily wiped that smile away.

An Instagram notification.

_Dwy5_ _260_ _wants to send you a message._

Wooseok let out a restless sigh and chewed on his bottom lip. “What if this person is your owner, Woody?”

_“Definitely not my mum,”_ Seungyoun thought, _“that’s not her username.”_

Wooseok decided to open the message, given that it wouldn’t be marked as _seen_ if he didn’t tap the _accept_ button. He could just read it and not accept the request.

How surprised he was when he found that the content of the message was absolutely far from what he had expected.

He felt his heart stop for a moment.

_“Hey noob, what are you trying to do? Copying my channel’s concept?_ _?_ _You think you’re such a great Youtuber, huh?? This is the third time you make a similar content! I found out from my subscribers’ comments! First the puppy shelter, then the new karaoke bar, and now the dog park! Did you use s_ _omeone else’s_ _dog and pretend it was a lost dog so you could make a pet vlog too?? Hey, if you think you can steal my subscribers, let me tell you something: never in your wildest dreams!! Just from your appearance I can tell that you’re a spoon-fed, spoiled loaded kid. Can’t you even come up with_ _your own_ _original ideas?? You’d better watch out_ _… This_ _should be my first and last warning. Get lost!!”_

Seungyoun flicked his horrified gaze from the phone screen to Wooseok’s face. There were tears all over again. As Wooseok checked the sender’s account, they found that it was a fake account with no posts and no followers. Fueled with rage, the dog bared his teeth at the hate message displayed on the screen and growled under his breath.

_“How dare you... How dare you hurt my Wooseokie!”_ he let out a loud, sharp bark that made Wooseok flinch out of surprise and drop his phone onto the bed. _“YOU watch out, not Wooseokie, because I’m coming for your ass once I turn back to normal!_ _Don’t think you can_ _get away with this, I’ll find your channel and hunt you down!”_

Seungyoun stood up on fours and continued to bark fiercely at the phone. Wooseok was dazed, his eyes wide and glistening with tears. He couldn’t quite comprehend what was going on; why was the dog angry? It couldn’t be that he could read... or could he? No, Wooseok believed his Woody was a super talented dog, but a dog who could read a long text? No, he didn’t think that was it.

Why was he mad then?

“Woody... Woody, calm down.” Wooseok pulled Seungyoun back into a hug. “Why are you mad? It’s okay.”

_“No, how could you say it’s okay?? It’s not okay at all! Who do they think they are? The founder of Youtube?? They’re in no place to talk to you like that!”_ Seungyoun grabbed the phone with his mouth and forced it back into Wooseok’s grip. _“Come on, stand up for yourself! Put them back in their place!”_

Wooseok didn’t know if he should even believe what he was thinking. “Ah... Am I hallucinating or what…? It can’t be that you’re telling me to reply... right?”

_“Aish... That’s exactly what you need to do!”_ Seungyoun grew frustrated. At times like this, he felt like he should’ve appreciated the times when he could’ve spoken as much as he had wanted.

“It’s okay, though... It’s not the first time I get a message like this.” Wooseok held the Shiba tight like a stuffed animal, his front flush against Seungyoun’s back. He proceeded to scroll down the list of request messages that he had read, but had neither been accepted nor declined yet.

“There’s this person.” Wooseok opened a message and showed it to Seungyoun. “And this person too.” He showed another one, and another one. At this point, he didn’t care whether he was still sane or not, he’d just pretend like the dog would understand everything and comfort him.

_Stupid contents… Show-off… Sissy… Fake… No originality… Boring… You have nothing else besides money and a nice face… Just quit… stop seeking for attention._

The angry flames in Seungyoun’s eyes grew bigger and bigger the more he read those hateful words. It was something that had never come across his mind; a person who seemed perfect, who seemed to live a perfect life, who seemed so distant in a whole different kind of world up there, could actually be a sadder person than he himself was. And Seungyoun had thought that he had been the unluckiest person in the world.

“I’m not like that…” Wooseok’s voice trembled behind Seungyoun’s ears. “I never meant to copy anyone. I didn’t even know there were similar contents… I’m more than that, Woody. I’m more than everything they say about me. Do you believe me? I really want to prove them wrong, but... I just… You see, I do what I do because I love it. I’m not fake... I’m— I’ve always been shy and quiet, but I have a dream that I want to pursue. I need to get out of my shell if I want to pursue it… don’t I? But I don’t get why some people hate to see me try. They don’t even know me in person… Why do they keep bothering me?”

Irritated, Seungyoun bit the phone, yanked it off Wooseok’s grip, and flung it to the edge of the bed. Wooseok gasped in surprise.

_“More importantly, why do you keep looking at those stupid texts?”_ he growled. _“You know they’re just jealous of you! Those jobless bastards have too much time on hand, so they waste their time behind their phones trying to drag others down! Stop minding them! The problem is on them, not you, you’re free to do what you want to pursue your dream. Instead of focusing on them, why don’t you just focus on people who support you? I’m sure there are a lot more of them than those insignificant haters!"_

Seungyoun pulled the blanket up with his teeth, covering Wooseok’s body to his shoulders, and when Wooseok tried to get up and take his phone back, Seungyoun slammed a paw on the other’s forehead and pushed him back down.

_“Nope.”_ The dog sat straight and sternly shook his head in disapproval.

“Woody…” Wooseok’s round watery eyes went up to the paw pinning his head down. He sniffled. “Thank you.”

_“Now, cheer up.”_ Seungyoun slid his long, pink tongue over the other’s lips once again. He thought he could get used to it. Seeing that Wooseok liked it too, puckering his lips asking for more, he found no reasons why he should hold back.

The rain outside grew heavier, and Seungyoun the Shiba went on licking and licking as if he had just discovered the juiciest, tastiest bone in the world.

“Gosh, they’re back at it again.” Hangyul sank his face in his palm, while Dohyon watched while munching on a piece of bread, looking bored like they had been watching an animal documentary on National Geographic.

“But really, hyung,” Dohyon said with a full mouth, “this Wooseok guy seems like a very lonely guy. To be honest, for a second I thought of just letting them be. They looked happy together in his vlog too.”

“You know what he needs? A lover.” Hangyul chuckled and shook his head. “This isn’t it, Dohyonie. Guess I’ve found the answer to your question earlier... No, I don’t think it’s morally acceptable for a man to make out with a dog.”

Through the magic sphere, they watched as Seungyoun’s licks grew wilder, spreading all over Wooseok’s face and down to his neck. Wooseok was giggling and rolling in his bed then, feeling ticklish, while the dog’s tail was wagging side to side in large swings, a sign that he was getting excited. The siblings couldn’t tell whether Seungyoun was still in his right mind or had lost himself to the natural instinct and playful behaviour of a dog.

“Woody, stop! It tickles!” Laughing adorably, Wooseok rolled onto his belly and covered his head with his pillow.

And then it happened; Seungyoun climbed onto him and began to hump his rear, wearing an oh-so-happy look on his innocent puppy face.

Wooseok froze up. Hangyul and Dohyon froze up. Seungyoun beamed and went on humping the night away.

“…See?” Hangyul pointed at the crystal ball and flashed a bitter smile at his stunned brother. “This is what I’m talking about. Every day we stray further from the light... Let’s at least have a flashlight. Which means, let’s at least hold onto _one_ single moral value.”

He grabbed the sphere and put it away in his dresser. “Yup, that’s enough spying for today.” He blew out a big sigh. “So… let’s call it a day.”

“But, hyung…” Dohyon swallowed the last bite of his bread. “Let’s try again tomorrow. The long distance spell. Although Baegi is doing better, I think Seungyoun hyung’s mum may actually lose her mind soon. Since tomorrow will be the fourth day you try it, I hope something good will happen… But if it still doesn’t work after you do your very best, let’s just contact that Youtuber and ask to meet up. How about that?”

“Yeah… Sounds good enough.”

Although he didn’t say it, Hangyul was beyond grateful that he had Dohyon to be the rational and functional brain in such situations. And such situations had made him appreciate his adopted commoner brother more than ever. Perhaps the saying was true; _every cloud has a silver lining._

While Hangyul and Dohyon were forcing themselves to sleep and drop all their burdens for the night, Seungyoun was facing yet another one of the most embarrassing moments of his life, after having come back to his senses and realized what he had done to the precious bottom of his favourite person.

“W-Why… did you hump me?” Wooseok decided to intensify the awkwardness by starting a one-way _discussion_ about it. “Ah, come to think of it… I don’t know how old you are. Is it because of puberty? Should I find you a female dog to mate with?”

_“N-NO! NOOOOO!! I’m so sorry, I won’t do it again, please don’t punish me that way!!”_ Seungyoun bowed frantically, moving his head up and down intending to apologize, but it looked like he was nodding eagerly instead.

“A-Are you in heat?” Wooseok’s ears reddened for some reasons. “B-But I thought only female dogs went into heat, and male dogs responded to it… Ah, wait. I saw correctly, didn’t I? L-Let me check once again.”

_“What are you doing?? I’m not a female dog!”_ Seungyoun wanted to cry when Wooseok pulled one of his hind legs up, exposing his crotch so he could see what was there. _“This is too humiliating…”_

As soon as Wooseok released his leg, Seungyoun crawled away and hid his head under the pillow. Wooseok wasn’t sure whether he should laugh at the adorable behaviour or deem it another unusual reaction that should be questionable for a dog to do.

“Is it embarrassing if I look at your peepee?”

_“Peepee…”_

Seungyoun _really_ wanted to cry.

For the meantime, and as always, all the oddities were disregarded once again.

* * *

“Cho Seungyoun.”

Wooseok flew his gaze around the classroom.

“Cho Seungyoun?” The professor called once again, checking attendance.

“He didn’t come again?”

Hearing the soft feminine voice close to his ear, Wooseok turned his head, and his eyes immediately met with a pair of pretty, shiny ones that belonged to one of his close friends. Her smooth, straight chocolate brown hair was long enough for the tips to brush against Wooseok’s forearm on the desk. She had leaned closer in order to whisper to him.

Wooseok smiled at her. “Yeah. Again.”

“Kim Nia,” the professor called.

“Here!” the girl beside Wooseok raised her hand, and waited until the next name was called before whispering again, “Has he lost his mind? He’s skipped classes for four days straight.”

Another pretty girl next to her – one with short hair, also a friend in Wooseok’s circle, joined the conversation. “Could it be that something happened to him? I overheard his friends talking about him yesterday. He hasn’t been in touch with any of them.”

“Really?? That doesn’t sound like him at all,” Nia said. “Oh, Hani, didn’t you say that you saw him last Friday? Where did you see him?”

“Um,” the girl called Hani nodded, “I saw him while I was driving home. He was walking into an elite neighbourhood near my place… Actually, I’ve seen him around that area a few times. I guess he lives there. Ah, but I noticed that he always walked while looking at his phone! Each time I saw him, he was always holding his phone horizontally and grinning to himself, like he was watching something funny.”

While showing no bits of interest on his bored face, Wooseok listened attentively to the girls’ whispered conversation.

_Did he get run over by a car while doing that?_ He wondered. _Bad guy might’ve faced his bad karma. But… death is pretty extreme, though? Does he get no second chance? Maybe he’s done much nastier things…I’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg. He’s probably burning in hell right now. Giving the devil a headache with his stupid loud voice._

“An accident?” Hani’s voice pulled Wooseok out of his trance. “I don’t think there has been an accident lately, though… If there had been an accident bad enough to make someone miss school for four days, I guess at least there would’ve been a buzz going around the area about it, if it hadn’t been reported on the news.”

_Right… His name could’ve made it on the news if he had died. Good for him, then._

Suddenly, Seungyoun’s dorky grinning face popped out in Wooseok’s mind. The face that he had been eager to punch the last time they had run into each other.

“Ah, right… I’ve just remembered, I ran into him and his mum last Sunday,” Wooseok said. “He seemed a bit off. His mum said he hadn’t been talking since the previous night, but he wouldn’t stop smiling. They were about to go to a clinic.”

“Smiling? Maybe something good happened? What did they say to the doctor, though…?” Nia voiced out the same questions that had bugged Wooseok after the encounter that day.

“They probably checked his head and ended up sending him to a mental asylum. That’s why he’s not here,” Wooseok said unsympathetically, causing his friends to giggle.

“Wow, really, do you dislike him that much?” Hani asked in disbelief. “That’s so unlike you to speak of someone like that!”

“I know, right?” Nia said, chuckling, “If he can switch our shy Wooseokie’s grumpy kitty mode on, I wonder how bad he really is.”

Wooseok shrugged as he drew a random doodle absentmindedly on the top corner of his paper.

_Was I too rude towards him?_

The typical Kim Wooseok; seeming like he couldn’t care less, yet secretly cared and worried so much deep inside.

Out of the blue, Wooseok remembered his short walk together with Seungyoun, when he had showed up all handsome and stylish, when the smiley guy had tried to start a conversation with him, and when by coincidence Hani’s car had passed by, when they had left Seungyoun alone on the sidewalk without a word.

Now, Wooseok felt like a horrible person. Perhaps even worse than Cho Seungyoun. Indeed he had witnessed him do some questionable, seemingly amoral stuff, but he had only _witnessed,_ not _experienced;_ Seungyoun had never done bad things to him so far.

_Maybe not YET._

Kim Wooseok could be quite obstinate sometimes.

_I’ll try to be a bit nicer next time. If he ever shows up again._

Sighing, Wooseok pressed his phone’s lock button to check the time. The screen lit up, displaying a photo of a smiling Shiba as the lock screen. The contagious broad smile never failed to brighten Wooseok’s day; even then, when he was feeling _a little_ guilty.

“Do you like him that much?” Nia teased, elbowing Wooseok’s arm. “How cute… You always smile whenever you look at Woody’s picture, just like looking at your crush’s photo!”

Wooseok pressed his lips together to hold his smile from growing any bigger. “He’s really cute… I can’t help it, he’s the cutest.”

_Do you dislike him that much?_

_Do you like him that much?_

It was quite ironic, how he thought he could dislike a certain person so much and love a certain dog just as much, and had no single clue that he was both hating and loving the very same, one single creature at the same time.

“For the next presentation, you are free to work in groups of two or three. Please write down your names on the group list that I will provide. Class president, please submit the list to me after class,” the professor said.

By default, Wooseok and his two female friends became one group and right away started an intellectual discussion revolving around the presentation’s topic, while Seungyoun’s group of friends were back at questioning his whereabouts.

“ _Aish,_ seriously, where did that clown go?” Wooseok caught one of the girls whining. “How could he disappear just like that?? Does he think he can ditch school like dumping a girl and cutting off all communication with an ex?? It’s hard to get into a university, someone else could’ve taken his spot if he didn’t want it!”

“Something must’ve happened, though,” another girl in the group said dejectedly. “He wasn’t the type who would skip classes whenever he wanted to.”

Wooseok glanced at them, and then tried to get his focus back on the group assignment.

_You’re making your girlfriends sad, Cho Seungyoun._

He was so deep in thoughts that he failed to notice the multiple missed calls on his silent phone, even though it was laid right next to his hand.

Those missed call notifications were discovered much later, only when the class was dismissed. Wooseok’s doe eyes widened double times and his heart raced as soon as he saw sixteen missed calls from his mother and eleven from his father. Twenty seven in total. There was definitely an _emergency;_ the last time they had left that many missed calls was when Wooseok had had a sleepover at a friend’s place after a night loaded with homework, and had forgotten to inform his parents, back in his second year in high school.

“Wooseok, what’s wrong?” Hani asked, noticing the panicked look.

“My parents called, I didn’t see my phone.” Wooseok stood up and slung his bag’s strap over his shoulder. “Sorry, I think I should go first.”

“Oh—Okay, take care! See you tomorrow!” the worried girls waved and watched Wooseok quickly exit the room with his phone on his ear.

_“Hello?”_

Wooseok’s face went pale hearing his mother’s shaky voice. She sounded like she had been crying.

“Hello, Mum? Mum, I’m sorry, I was having a class—”

_“Wooseokie, Woody is gone! Woody ran away!”_

Wooseok stopped dead in his track. Everyone and everything around him seemed and sounded distant then, and there was only one thing set in his mind; _find Woody._

“I… I’ll look for him.”

Before he knew it, his feet had begun to move, running to the exit and out of the building. For some reasons, there were tears in his eyes.

_Woody… Why did you run away? Were you not happy living with me? I thought you liked me… Are you looking for your owner? I’m so sorry… I shouldn’t have held you back._

Wooseok ran until he reached the entrance of the campus area. Red-nosed and watery-eyed, he stopped and looked around because he had no idea where to start.

_“Arf! Ruff!”_

Wooseok nearly strained his neck from how hard he turned his head towards the source of the bark.

A certain Shiba Inu with a blue and orange collar had been waiting to pick him up.

“W…Woody!”

Like a slow motion scene in a movie, Wooseok and Seungyoun ran towards each other and united in a big, loving hug. Kneeling down, Wooseok wrapped his arms tightly around the dog’s body and rested his cheek on top of the fluffy head, pouting adorably.

“How could you get here?? I thought you wanted to leave me! You’ve made Mum and Dad worried too!” the nineteen-year-old sniffled and wiped his nose with the back of his hand like a little child. It took a good minute until he realized they were still in public, on the sidewalk outside the campus area, and there were people passing by. He stood up and lifted Seungyoun up, carrying him bridal style towards the stairs nearby to sit there.

_“I’m sorry, Wooseokie…”_ The dog whimpered, bowing his head in guilt. _“I was out of control… I guess my dog self wanted to explore outside and ended up going too far. But since I was out and about already, I thought I should go to my mum and make sure she was okay… But I changed my mind! Because my place is kinda far from here, and I didn’t want to make you worried, I decided to come here instead. I came to pick you up! Let’s go home!”_

Well, no matter how much he tried to explain, Wooseok couldn’t understand any of his little noises anyway.

Wooseok sighed. “I’ll take that as an apology… It’s okay. Should we go… home? Or… maybe… you want to try another way to find your owner? You must be missing them… I’m really sorry for holding you back, Woody. I’m so selfish.”

_“No! I wasn’t trying to run away from you, I swear!”_ Seungyoun grew frustrated. He wished he could have the ability to speak even just for five minutes, so could explain everything and clear every misunderstanding.

Looking somewhat sad, Wooseok gave his mother a call to let her know that he had found the dog. He seemed even more troubled hearing how relieved she was; now he was sure that his parents loved the dog too. How would he let him go then?

After ending the call, Wooseok sighed and gave Seungyoun a helpless smile.

“Oh? Kim Wooseok!”

Wooseok turned around to see his classmates – Seungyoun’s friends, three girls and two boys – coming towards him, waving and smiling like the friendly and cheerful social beings they were, just like Seungyoun himself.

Seeing familiar faces, Seungyoun perked up in an instant.

_“FRIENDS!! AAHHH I MISSED YOU GUYS!!”_

He started barking and panting happily in Wooseok’s arms.

“You have a dog?? He’s so cute!” Said one of the girls, squealing as she patted Seungyoun’s head. Two other hands came touching him too, one rubbing his chin, and one scratching his belly. The happy Shiba closed his smiley eyes and panted in bliss. Two guys behind the girls snickered at Seungyoun’s face and eventually started to take pictures of him with their phones.

“You’re a lucky dude, huh?” one of the guys laughed. “Look at his face, he knows how to enjoy pretty girls’ touch.”

Being surrounded by people whom he wasn’t really close to, Wooseok felt increasing discomfort that was urging him to walk away. He was like a shy little kitten surrounded by big, fluffy, friendly tail-wagging dogs.

“Oh, wait a minute!” Suddenly one girl piped up, “He’s the dog in your latest vlog, isn’t he?? I saw him in the thumbnail earlier, was planning on watching it tonight!”

Wooseok was taken by surprise. It was the very first time someone in his class, who was not a close friend, brought up the topic of his Youtube channel.

“You… watch my channel?” he asked carefully.

Seungyoun’s female friends looked at each other. “Well, of course!” the girl said, her smile indicating that Wooseok’s question sounded sort of ridiculous to them. “You have a great channel! The editing is funny and cute too, we didn’t expect you could come up with witty captions! Right?”

“Right!” The other girls nodded excitedly. “Some videos are damn hilarious!”

“You’re clumsy in a cute way, Kim Wooseok.”

They laughed while petting Seungyoun, quite loudly, unlike Wooseok’s friends who always tried their best to be lady-like.

Wooseok was dazed. Getting compliments directly in person surely felt different from getting nice comments under his videos. He felt _appreciated._

Knowing there were _real_ people who actually appreciated his work, suddenly the hate messages that had made him cry last night didn’t really matter anymore.

“…Thank you.” Wooseok smiled shyly. “Well, he’s not mine… He was lost and I found him. I thought I should make a video of him, maybe his owner might find it.”

“That’s a pretty good idea,” said one of the guys, a very tall one, “or you can also post on Insta using hashtag lost dog or such. Be careful, though, some trolls may claim to be the owner. You can test them by asking for their picture together with this buddy, or just see if he recognizes them.”

Wooseok nodded and smiled. “Thanks for the advice.”

_“Wow, I didn’t know you could be this smart.”_ Seungyoun stuck his tongue out at his male friend. _“Mlem.”_

Seeing that, the guy chuckled and raised an eyebrow. “Why does he remind me of Cho Seungyoun, though?”

“Oh, you’re right!!” the group of friends were shocked by the realization.

_“That’s because it’s really meeee! I’m Cho Seungyoun!”_ Seungyoun wanted to scream.

Just to be nice, Wooseok asked, “He hasn’t contacted you guys yet?”

“Yes!! Do you know anything about him??” the group became alert.

Since they had been nice to him too, Wooseok decided to tell them about the encounter, like he had told Nia and Hani, plus the extra information that Hani had told him – about seeing Seungyoun walk while watching his phone.

“He was probably watching your videos,” the tall guy said. “He was always watching your video whenever I peeked at his phone.”

“M-My videos??” Wooseok goggled, while Seungyoun started brainstorming ways to fake his own death so he would never have to face the utter embarrassment, in case he’d turn back into a human someday.

“Yup, one hundred percent whipped.” The guy gave a firm nod. “If he wasn’t one hundred percent whipped, he wouldn’t have troubles making friends with you. That’s Cho Seungyoun.”

_“SHUT UPPPPP!! STOP EXPOSING ME!!”_ Seungyoun’s yell came out as the loud, signature Shiba scream that shocked all of them. He topped it with a sharp bark and a snarl at his shocked friend.

“…Are you sure this dog is not Cho Seungyoun?”

* * *

Wooseok learned two things that day.

First, it was true that people weren’t always what they looked like. To him, all this time, Seungyoun and his friends had always come off as a wild group of obnoxious loud kids who didn’t know how to behave at times, and would definitely not give a damn about their shy, quiet classmate’s Youtube channel. This had been proven wrong through their short interaction that day.

Second, if he gave more, he might receive more – this was in terms of information. Because he told them about the purpose of his latest vlog, he got a pretty helpful advice, and because he added more information about Seungyoun’s recent whereabouts, now he found out that Seungyoun watched his channel too.

Like an obsessed, or _whipped,_ fan.

Why would a guy like Cho Seungyoun find his channel interesting? Wooseok couldn’t stop wondering. Was there any hidden agenda? Did Seungyoun want something from him? Or was he overthinking about this guy?

_Yup, I’m definitely overthinking. He can watch whatever he wants._

One more thing; he wondered if Seungyoun had ever left any comments.

_Nah, I haven’t found perverted comments so far._

Or maybe there were some that he hadn’t read yet?

Sitting in front of his laptop that evening, he spent an hour scrolling through the past comments until he finally realized that he was doing something ridiculous.

“Ah, why am I doing this? Of course he wouldn’t leave any comments.” He shut his laptop without turning it off properly and stretched in his seat. Then, he slouched as he let out a big sigh and pouted. “That Wood guy also stopped leaving comments after I had replied… Did I say something wrong? He always had so much to say. It feels like I’ve been played somehow… As soon as I bit the bait, he disappeared.”

Sitting by his feet, Seungyoun looked at him in disbelief. The abundant amount of overthinking had astonished him; he hadn’t known that someone could stretch tiny details to such extent and get all worked up about things trivial to others – or at least to Seungyoun himself.

_“That isn’t healthy, Kim Wooseok.”_

Seungyoun went away and came back with Wooseok’s towel over his head. _“Go and take a nice warm shower instead!”_

“You want me to shower?” Wooseok chuckled. He took his towel and rewarded the dog with a kiss on his head. “Okay, I’ll do that. Wait for me and don’t get naughty, okay?”

As soon as Wooseok left the room, Seungyoun jumped onto the bed and curled comfortably, while the little fly spying on him continued to watch from the bedside table.

_“Ah, I wonder what Mum is doing right now… I hope that imposter who’s pretending to be me didn’t do anything harmful to her. It’s so strange… He looked exactly like me. It must be magic. Someone must be playing magic tricks on me. Did I do something wrong to someone and make them angry? Is this how they get back at me?”_

The dog let out a sad whine. However, when his gaze fell on the blue rubber ball in the corner of the room, a switch was flicked in his head.

The smiley Shiba jumped off the bed and started having fun with the ball on his own, as if he had had no single burden in the world.

Meanwhile, still watching over him, Hangyul and Dohyon were having a little argument.

“Come on, hyung, try again!” Dohyon whined. “Hurry, do it while he’s alone. He can explain everything when his friend comes back.”

Hangyul sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’ve tried like a hundred times today. If I could do it, he would’ve changed while he was roaming outside earlier! No, you know what? I guess I won’t be able to do it even without the big distance.”

Dohyon messed his own hair, exasperated. “It’s probably those stupid negative thoughts that make your magic too weak! You believe you can’t do it, that’s why you really can’t do it! Why do I even have to lecture you about this all over again??”

Hangyul’s pride as the older male was hurt this time. Having lost his patience after countless failures that day, he finally snapped.

“Do you think you know better? You’re not the one who has some _stupid_ magic power here. You think positive thoughts and good vibes are enough to control everything? You think it’s all fun and games?”

Dohyon’s eyes widened noticing the flickering purple balls of light engulfing his brother’s hands, growing bigger and bigger the angrier he was, while Hangyul himself wasn’t even aware of it. Dohyon had never found him so scary before.

“I’ve tried my best, I swear! But you want me to try _once_ again, right? Fine! I’ll do that if that’s what you want. But after you see me fail again, shut up and stop telling me what to do!”

Dohyon could’ve sworn he saw Hangyul’s eyes flash purple when he glared and muttered a spell in anger. The moment he threw a hand towards the crystal ball, a huge purple bolt of lightning struck from the tips of his fingers into the magic sphere, shocking not only Dohyon but Hangyul himself.

Gasping in horror, Dohyon grabbed the sphere and goggled at the sight of the dog inside.

Seungyoun the Shiba was then lying idle on his back, eyes wide, all four paws up pointing at the ceiling. The lightning had struck him through the crystal ball.

“Oh, no.” Dohyon clutched his own face. “Is he dead??”

Right in time, the door to Wooseok’s room swung open, and Wooseok came into view with a towel draped over his wet hair.

“What was that sound…? Woody?”

A happy smile instantly popped out on the Shiba’s face, much to Dohyon and Hangyul’s relief. His pink tongue rolled out and fell to the side, his eyes formed happy crescents, and his front paws folded adorably over his chest as his body curved slightly, in a pose indicating that he was asking for a belly rub. Chuckling, Wooseok squatted down and playfully scratched the dog’s tummy.

_Poof!_

All of a sudden, white puffs of smoke appeared and the Shiba transformed magically right before Wooseok’s eyes; he wasn’t scratching a dog’s belly anymore, but instead touching a bare stomach of a whole, naked adult man in nothing but a blue and orange collar, who was still in the same rub-my-belly pose with a joyful grin plastered on his face.

Wooseok’s eyes nearly sprang out of their sockets.

“….AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!”

Seungyoun’s smile faltered as his gaze slowly went down to his own body.

“…AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!”

Wooseok screamed. Seungyoun screamed. Hangyul and Dohyon screamed.

“Why is he naked, hyung??” Dohyon freaked out, and slapped his own forehead when he remembered, “ _Aish_ , he left his clothes when he ran away after transforming!”

“Wooseokie, what happened??” the voice of Wooseok’s mother was heard from downstairs, followed by footsteps rushing up the stairs.

Wooseok covered Seungyoun’s mouth immediately, yanked him up, and pushed him to hide behind the door. He opened the said door right when his mother was about to open it herself, not too wide, just enough for him to peek outside.

“M-Mum!”

“Why did you scream? What happened??” the worried mother stood on her toes and tried to look past her son’s shoulder.

“No—Nothing! Just a bug! A h-huge bug!” Wooseok shifted nervously from foot to foot as he tried to come up with an excuse.

“Are you sure? I heard another voice, did someone break in??” the small woman tried to step in. Wooseok blocked her way with his taller body.

“N-No, no, it was…” _Come on, think of something…_ An invisible light bulb lit up above his head. He took his phone out of his pocket. “A-A friend! I was having a phone call, o-on loud speaker… H-He was surprised w-when I shouted! Yes! A s-surprised friend on loud speaker! But the call ended and the b-bug is still here… Give me a moment to kill it! I-I’ll close and lock the door so it won’t run away, okay, Mum?”

“Ah, o-okay…” Wooseok’s mother blinked in confusion as he gave an awkward grimace and slowly closed the door. “Don’t break anything!”

The horrified look was back on Wooseok’s face as he stood face-to face with his nude classmate, who was standing straight against the wall and covering his precious manly property with both hands, head down like a punished puppy, looking like he was about to cry. His ears had turned a bright shade of red.

“How is this possible?” Wooseok whispered to himself, clutching his head. “You… All this time… Woody is _you??_ How— How did you even— How could you turn yourself into a dog?? All this time I’ve been keeping a dog in my house, in my _room…_ in my _BED_ … and the dog was _you_??”

Gradually, his expression went from shocked to disgusted, _utterly_ disgusted, cynical and judgmental look. He didn’t have to say it, and Seungyoun knew really well what he was thinking; _This creepy pervert is sick enough to use some strange black magic to disguise himself as a dog, so he could stalk me to THIS extent._

“Kim Wooseok, it’s really not what you’re thinking—”

“Get out of my house.”

“…Wait, give me a minute to explain—”

“Get. Out.”

Instead of pointing at the door, Wooseok had his index finger pointing at the window.

_Is he really telling me to jump out of the window naked?_

Having lived together for almost a week, Seungyoun had forgotten how heartless Wooseok could’ve been. Now, standing before him was not a sweet and loving pet owner anymore, but instead the ice prince and his icy glare, the cold guy who hated him thanks to all the misunderstanding that had been left unresolved.

Seungyoun felt like the sun had suddenly stopped shining on him.

“Wooseok…” Seungyoun dropped his head as he swallowed the last bits of his pride. “Please… I will leave after you hear my explanation. I promise I’ll make it quick.”

He flinched as soon as Wooseok raised his hand. The smaller guy’s fist landed on his arm.

“I don’t want to hear your excuses. Get out!”

Like a fierce, angry cat, Wooseok began to shower Seungyoun’s body with punches until he moved away from his spot.

“Ah, ow—Wooseok, it hurts!” Seungyoun whispered loudly, not wanting Wooseok’s mother to hear his voice.

It wasn’t long until he started to run around the room buttnaked avoiding the other’s attacks. Wooseok grabbed his pillow and hit Seungyoun’s head over and over again, missing every so often; each time he missed and hit empty air, he grew even angrier.

“Get out of my house!!” he yelled at the top of his lungs. “I’m going to kill you, you— you stupid annoying BUG!”

Seungyoun stopped for a second, kneeling on the floor and rubbing his hands together begging for mercy, but what he got was a pillow smack across his flushed face instead. He got up and went back on running again.

“Please, Wooseok! It wasn’t my doing! Someone else turned me into a dog, I don’t know who did it! You found me, I didn’t mean to stalk you!” Seungyoun tried his best not to raise his voice louder than a whisper. He wished Wooseok would stop and listen to him even just for a minute.

But suddenly…

_Poof!_

Wooseok stopped abruptly and gasped in surprise.

Woody the Shiba was back.

_“Oh, no…”_ Hot tears pooled in Seungyoun’s round brown eyes, seeing his own furry body and paws. _“No… No… NOOOO!”_

Now he could no longer talk and explain everything to Wooseok. Not only that he was back in the form of a dog, but also Wooseok had found out that it was _him._ This was much worse than before.

And yet, seeing the face of the dog he loved so much, Wooseok had mixed feelings.

“…No, you’re not getting my sympathy this way. Turning back into Woody won’t make me let you stay.”

Even though he was losing hope, still Seungyoun didn’t want to leave; maybe he would transform again soon. When that happened, he would try harder to clear everything. When that happened, he had to be around Wooseok, so he could make use of his time to the fullest. And because he didn’t know when it would happen again, he wanted to stay there until it happened.

So, once again he ran around the room, this time in form of a dog.

Meanwhile, as he was chasing the dog, Wooseok found himself getting emotional for some reasons. Seeing tears in the Shiba’s eyes made him want to cry too. He couldn’t help but recall everything they had done together in the past several days; the vlog filming, their fun play times, their shared meals, the nights they had slept together, the cuddles and hugs, the kisses and licks. Somehow, he felt _betrayed._ He had thought that he had found a true friend who could love him so much, whom he could love as much, who could finally chase away his loneliness; and yet, how disappointed he was now to discover that this _friend_ was nothing like what he had expected.

A teardrop escaped, and he wiped it angrily with his clenched fist.

“I hate you!!”

As Seungyoun ran and hopped onto the bed, Wooseok launched himself and pounced on the dog, catching him by his sides in a firm grip. They crashed onto the mattress and rolled around fighting over dominance, both baring their teeth at each other.

And…

_Poof!_

The air was knocked out of Wooseok’s chest by the heavy weight that was suddenly pressing down on him out of nowhere.

There was the naked big guy in a blue and orange collar again, then lying on top of Wooseok’s smaller body, staring down at him with teary eyes.

Wooseok was dazed for a few seconds, until he snapped out of it and tried to wriggle himself free. There was no way out; he was trapped between the strong arms.

“Get off of me.” Wooseok clenched his teeth holding back his anger. He hated that he couldn’t control his tears; how dare they come out without his permission? “Get off before I hurt you. I haven’t trimmed my nails.”

_You’re still beautiful even when you’re angry and crying._ Seungyoun sighed. “I’m sorry… But I’m not like what you think. Listen to me. I didn’t turn myself into a dog. I was just talking to my neighbour, and suddenly I turned into a dog. It sounds crazy but that’s really what happened. I got scared and ran away, I left my clothes and my phone… I ran far away, and by coincidence you found me and took me here. It was really a coincidence, just like how our previous encounters were all coincidences too. Bad coincidences, bad timing… I’m the unluckiest person in the world and you’ve misunderstood me, Kim Wooseok. I’m not a bad person—"

_Slap!_

Wooseok managed to pull an arm free and leave a stinging slap on Seungyoun’s cheek.

“Why should I believe you’re not a bad person when you say that while being naked and pinning me down like this? You’re touching me with your whole body, aren’t you aware that this is a sexual assault? Should I scream and tell my mother to call the police?”

“…No… I’m sorry. I will leave now.” Seungyoun pulled himself up and dejectedly turned his back to the other. “Do you… have anything that I can wear?”

Quietly, Wooseok went to his closet and came back with an old oversized white t-shirt and a pair of loose old pants. No underwear. Even though they were too big on him, they were just a little tight on Seungyoun.

Wooseok found himself stealing worried glances while Seungyoun was putting on the clothes. He caught him secretly wiping his eyes a few times. The sight softened his cold heart a _tiny_ bit.

Why did he feel like a housewife kicking her cheating husband out?

His guilt stirred in his guts when Seungyoun actually walked over to the window.

_It’s kinda high, though… He’ll break a bone if he jumps._

“Once again, I’m sorry,” Seungyoun said without facing the other. “I hope someday you’ll listen to me and believe what I say. For now, just… Don’t be lonely, Wooseok. Keep doing what you love and don’t mind what the haters say. If you need a friend, I’ll be around. Just find me. I… love listening to you.”

As Seungyoun opened the window, Wooseok averted his face away to hide his tears.

Now everything became clear to him, why it had always seemed like the dog had understood everything he had said. Now he knew what those little whines and whimpers had meant. He didn’t need a dog dictionary after all.

Did Seungyoun really care?

“…Wait.”

The glint of hope was back in Seungyoun’s eyes as he slowly turned around to see Wooseok stand there, adorably sulking and crossing his arms, refusing to look at him.

“You have five minutes to explain everything.”

And that was all it took for Seungyoun to smile again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was kinda more dramatic than the previous ones ahhh I feel bad for Seungyoun, some parts were pretty humiliating lol but that's nothing new in this story, right? I'm sorry 😌 now that Wooseok had found out that Woody was Seungyoun, do you think he'd still hate his guts? And it seemed like Hangyul's magic finally worked but the effect was unstable, because Seungyoun kept switching back and forth between a human and a dog. Would Seungyoun choose to stay with Wooseok, return to his mum, or run away and hide? Would Hangyul be able to fix it? How would things turn out if Wooseok decided to move out and live alone sooner than planned?
> 
> Wait for the next update to find out the answers! Thank you so much for reading this story, and especially for the kudos! I'll be glad to know what you think about the story's progress so far :D


	5. Chapter 5

* * *

“You have five minutes to explain everything.”

Seungyoun had been waiting for this moment. This was what he had been wishing for. He had been so desperate to dump it all out, hence when the chance finally came to him, everything poured out altogether with some embarrassing sniffles, little hiccups, and a little bit of runny snot.

“I’m not a pervert! When you saw me with that old woman at the store, some diapers on the top shelf were going to fall on her and I just wanted to hold them in place, but she misunderstood me! And you, you came when I wasn’t holding the diapers anymore, of course it looked suspicious but why would I do that to an old woman of all people?? When you saw me straddling someone else’s girlfriend at the campus’ park, I was chasing you because I wanted to clear the misunderstanding, but I tripped on a bush and fell on her… And when you saw me smoking and flirting outside the karaoke bar, I wasn’t even smoking and flirting—it’s hard to explain, but it wasn’t a cigarette! My friends and I were having that nitrogen snack called Dragon’s breath or whatever, you can blow out smoke when you chew it, and the thing I was holding was the karaoke receipt! We were just fooling around, not actually seducing each other… T-The guy was just a friend… Han Seungwoo! We met him and his dog at the park, the guy who tried to hit on you! He’s a flirt sometimes but I wasn’t flirting with him! And me turning into a dog… I swear I have no idea how this could happen, I guess I made someone angry and they cursed me to get back at me, but really, I didn’t want this to happen either… It wasn’t something I did intentionally to stalk you! Remember when we ran into my mum and the guy who looked like me? First, I turned into a dog, and now someone has stolen my place and I don’t even know what they’re up to! I’ve been waiting for another chance to get out and see my mum again… but I didn’t want to run away from you. I knew you’d be sad and disappointed, like today when I came to pick you up… Maybe you think everything I do is creepy and perverted, I’ve been staying in your house and sleeping with you in your bed… but I swear, I _swear_ that I don’t have bad intentions. I admit I watched your videos all the time, I admired you as a beautiful person, I still do… but I’ve never thought of doing anything bad to you. I just… just… w-want to be friends with you. And while I hated that I couldn’t speak and express my thoughts, I was glad that you opened up to me... It felt like taking advantages sometimes, because you were so affectionate to me and you told me everything, while I knew you wouldn’t have done any of it if you had known that it had been _me_ all along. Sometimes you told me that you wished I had been a human, but I knew you would hate that if it really came true… and now it’s proven. You want me out of your sight even if I turn back into a dog. How I wish that you’d still treat me the same way… I don’t know how to convince you, but believe me when I say that I sincerely want to be your friend. Just like you, I’m lonely too… I wish you’d still tell me about your worries. I really do care about them. You can… trust me, if you need to… maybe cry and let it out…”

Seungyoun hung his head low and twisted his fingers in his sweaty grip, inhaling a shaky breath in attempt to pull himself together. He had caught a glimpse of a teardrop running down Wooseok’s flushed cheek, while the ice prince had his gaze fixated on the clock all the time, making sure Seungyoun didn’t exceed the five-minute time limit to speak.

The moment Wooseok averted his gaze away from the clock, Seungyoun had disappeared; what he could find was only a guilt-ridden Shiba Inu, who had no courage to lift his head and look back at him.

Without a word, Wooseok stepped closer to the dog, knelt down, and proceeded to take the blue and orange collar off his neck. Seungyoun felt his puppy heart shatter.

_“I guess this is our goodbye then…”_

“…It’d be uncomfortable to keep it on while you keep switching.”

Seungyoun flicked his head up, and his hopeful, watery puppy eyes rounded at the hint of guilt on Wooseok’s face.

_“You’re not disowning me…?”_

As the answer, Wooseok opened his arms and took him into a hesitant, awkward loose hug.

“S-Sorry for misunderstanding you… Cho Seungyoun.” He pulled back right away and rubbed his nape sheepishly, looking away.

No more Woody. Even though the name wasn’t Seungyoun’s favourite, he had grown fond of hearing Wooseok say it so lovingly… and now he had started to miss it already.

“Should I… take you _home_?”

_“Isn’t this my home too?”_ Seungyoun whimpered. _“It’s getting late… You should go to sleep instead. I can go alone.”_

“Y-You can stay here for one more night… if you want to.” Wooseok collected his borrowed clothes that pooled around the dog’s paws on the floor. “You’ll be naked if you switch again. These clothes don’t stay on you.”

Now, Seungyoun wasn’t sure if licks would still be acceptable. Would he get slapped again if he expressed his gratitude with a lick?

As Seungyoun remained unmoving on his spot, Wooseok took a floor mattress and a blanket from his closet, grabbed one of his pillows, and set them up on the floor next to his bed.

“Sorry, I can’t let you sleep in my bed anymore. Get some rest… Tomorrow I’ll find a way to help you go home _safely._ ”

The spy in the room flew and landed close to the mattress.

Meanwhile, Hangyul and Dohyon had barely recovered from their shock; not only that the magic had worked when least expected, but also the short _mature_ scene had left a mental scar on these teen boys. Witnessing Seungyoun naked and lying on Wooseok was quite a life-changing experience especially to the poor fifteen-year-old Dohyon who only knew love for food.

Dohyon had fallen silent. Since Hangyul had told him to shut up and quit telling him what to do, now he kept his thoughts to himself.

Hangyul glanced at the younger, feeling guilty, yet unwilling to drop his ego. He wondered what Dohyon was thinking; perhaps he had another idea of what should be done at the moment. But he didn’t want to ask.

For once, Hangyul tried to use his own brain and figure out what to do.

“I’ll… give it another shot. Overlay the spell with the same one.”

Dohyon nodded and watched in anticipation while Hangyul hovered his hands above the crystal ball.

“Is it comfortable enough?” Wooseok asked, watching the Shiba lie down on the mattress.

_“Yeah… Thanks, Wooseok.”_ Seungyoun gave a nod before resting his head on the pillow.

A soft knock then came on the door, followed by the voice of Wooseok’s mother outside.

“Wooseok, is everything okay now? Is the bug still there?” she asked.

Wooseok unlocked and opened the door to see his mother standing there, equipped with a bug zapper and a bug repellent in her hands. He chuckled.

“It’s okay, Mum. I took care of it.”

In order to be more convincing, there was a risk he had to take; he opened the door wider and revealed Seungyoun on the floor mattress, secretly feeling super anxious inside, hoping that the dog wouldn’t suddenly turn into a human.

“See? Everything’s fine, we’re just going to sleep. Please go to sleep as well,” he said.

Then that the mother had seen the prove that there was nothing suspicious to hide, her smile returned, and Wooseok pulled the door back to hide Seungyoun from his mother’s view.

“Oh, good! You can handle bugs on your own now… I guess I won’t have to worry when you live alone later.” She giggled, and Wooseok smiled, subtly rolling his eyes because why would she be worried about bugs? Well, indeed Wooseok was afraid of bugs, but he believed he had adequate survival skills for such emergency situation. “Why is Woody sleeping on the floor, though? He usually sleeps with you in your bed, doesn’t he?”

Wooseok hated lying.

“Ah… J-Just trying something new! Maybe it’ll be more comfortable for him to sleep on his own. I may choke him or kick him at night if he sleeps next to me.”

“Oh, gosh, right… Good, then, let him sleep on his own! I will go to bed now, okay? Your dad is coming home late today, but he should be arriving soon. Good night, baby, don’t wake up late tomorrow!”

“Good night, Mum.”

The door was then locked once again. Wooseok turned the lights off, leaving only the bedside lamp above Seungyoun’s head on, and knelt beside the mattress to tuck the dog in. Seungyoun whimpered and looked at him with sad puppy eyes.

_“I’ve caused you so much trouble… I’m sorry, Wooseok.”_

Wooseok sighed. “I don’t know what to say to my parents when you leave. I don’t want to lie anymore, but things can get out of hand if they find out the truth. Should I just… say that we’ve found your owner? You’re going to return to your mum anyway… Technically, she can be considered your owner since she gave birth to you, right? I won’t be lying if I say that.”

Seungyoun could barely process everything. He knew he should’ve been prepared for this moment, but this was all still too sudden for him; he was actually _leaving_ soon. He wouldn’t be living with Wooseok and his parents anymore. And he couldn’t bring himself to imagine the look on the parents’ faces when Wooseok would break the _news,_ as he knew then that they loved him too, given that the mother had cried so much earlier when she had thought that they had lost him. Seungyoun was surely going to miss them too. In such a short timespan, although he had been in form of a dog, they had become like his own parents; especially Wooseok’s father, for Seungyoun himself didn’t have a father anymore. He dearly missed the manly yet gentle figure whom he had always looked up to.

Seungyoun’s sad noises melted Wooseok’s heart. Under the warm yellow light of the bedside lamp, the glints in the chocolate-ball-like puppy eyes weren’t their usual mischievous twinkles, but instead dim, longing ones that reflected the silhouette of the face that was inching closer to them.

Wooseok wished nothing had been revealed and discovered that day; if he hadn’t known the truth, he would’ve still been able to hug and kiss this dog.

But perhaps, just for this moment, he could pretend like he didn’t know any of it.

Lowering his body, Wooseok gazed into Seungyoun’s sad eyes and brought his hand to his face, gently caressing the furry cheek.

“…It’s hard to let it sink in that you’re still the same dog, who stayed with me and cheered me up… but I’ll try to keep that in mind.”

_Poof!_

Wooseok stiffened up, and his eyes widened at the sorrowful handsome face that he was then cupping in his hand.

“…C-Can’t you control the switching??”

Seungyoun caught the hand on his cheek and pinned it there before it could be pulled away.

“I’d stay like this if I could… but then you wouldn’t want to touch me.”

As Seungyoun blinked slowly, tender gaze and smile full of affection, Wooseok felt his blood rush to his face. Suddenly he yanked his hand back.

“D-Don’t say such thing while you’re naked!” Pouting, he got up and moved to his own bed. “Just shut up and sleep.” A tiny _‘hmph’_ was heard as he turned his back to Seungyoun and wrapped himself in his blanket.

_Cute…_

Seungyoun let out a small laugh. “Okay, then… Good night, Wooseok.”

_Jerk._ Wooseok rolled his eyes.

“Don’t worry, I won’t do anything stupid. I’ll be a watchdog so you can sleep peacefully tonight.”

Eventually, a bashful smile found its way to Wooseok’s sulky face. It wasn’t so bad to have this one annoying human as a companion, he thought. At least he was neither being loud nor constantly bothering him. In fact, the atmosphere was somehow warmer and more comfortable with his presence there. Seungyoun, too, felt warm and fuzzy, even when he could only see Wooseok’s soft brown hair and narrow back.

For the first time ever, he felt _lucky._ Because even after all the chaos, at the end of the day, still he found himself at the same place with the same person; his _favourite_ person. And above it all, just like the previous nights… it wasn’t a lonely night to both of them.

* * *

Hangyul pulled an all-nighter to watch over Seungyoun and studied books in his father’s library. He wasn’t really a big fan of coffee, but by the time Dohyon left for school that morning, he had finished his fourth cup of the black caffeinated drink because one of two weren’t that much of a help to him. He didn’t know why.

On the brighter side, he could give himself a pat in the back, because his second spell’s effect had lasted all night with no unstable switching. All the while Seungyoun had been sleeping, he had stayed in his original form of a human. Hangyul would’ve deemed it the first ever major success in his life, if only Seungyoun hadn’t turned back into a dog in the morning. And moreover, he had exhausted both his body and the magic power left in it after his multiple attempts; Seungyoun had to wait for a while until Hangyul could try again, until his power didn’t lock itself in anymore.

At least, Seungyoun was no longer switching every five minutes.

That morning, Wooseok woke up early enough to see Seungyoun still in his human form, sleeping in a quite adorable position, curling slightly on his side with the pillow snug between his shoulder and his head. Despite the cuteness, though, if zoomed out a little, it was _not_ an innocent view as a whole due to the blanket that was dangerously hanging on his hipbone and barely covering anything but the vital part and a small portion of his thighs. He hadn’t bothered putting the borrowed clothes on.

Before anything else, Wooseok had to ensure the _protection_ was on properly in order to prevent his eyes from getting stained again first thing in the morning; crouching down and looking away, cringing, he grabbed a pinch of the blanket and carefully pulled it up to Seungyoun’s shoulder.

“Mmm…”

Seungyoun stirred in his sleep. Wooseok didn’t know why, but the rustling sound made him let go of the blanket immediately and cover his own head with his arms, freezing up into a ball. A hedgehog behaviour.

When a soft snore filled the silence, though, he released a relieved sigh. No matter what form he was in, a human or a dog, Cho Seungyoun was a sleepyhead.

_Should I wake him up now?_

Wooseok looked at the clock. 6:50 AM. It was still very early, there was plenty of time left until his afternoon class. But he had to start arranging an _escape plan_ for Seungyoun now.

_But he’s not turning back into a dog… How am I going to get him out if he stays like this? I guess Mum isn’t going anywhere today._.. _Then_ _I need to keep her busy so she won’t see Seungyoun leave._

Staring at Seungyoun’s face as he worked his brain, Wooseok wasn’t aware of the small smile that was gracing his own lips. Somehow he found him looking so, _so_ innocent. His hair was a huge mess, sticking out in all directions, and his plump lips were parted slightly, with a trail of drool on the corner. A _giant baby_ would be a more appropriate label for him instead of a licentious pervert that Wooseok had perceived him as. Then, he wondered what kind of person Seungyoun really was.

If he was as caring and protective as Woody, his dog self, Wooseok supposed it wouldn’t hurt to get to know this guy.

Sighing, he tapped Seungyoun lightly on the cheek. “Seungyoun… Cho Seungyoun. Wake up.”

A few dozens of taps later, Seungyoun didn’t budge, and the taps turned into light slaps that gradually grew harder. Wooseok didn’t have enough patience for this.

“Watchdog my ass… If I had a watchdog like you, burglars would empty this house for sure and you’d still be sleeping.”

Seungyoun’s relaxed facial muscles then tightened as a toothy smile spread from ear to ear. His shoulders shook in a quiet laugh.

“Tsk…” Wooseok crossed his arms, pressing his lips together to hold back a smile. “Have you been awake all this time?? Hey, it’s not funny! Do that again next time and you’ll see what happens if you test my patience early in the morning.”

Seungyoun’s eyes fluttered open, and his smile faltered just a little as he snaked his hand towards Wooseok, though it then stopped midway and hung helplessly on the edge of the mattress.

“Will there be a next time?” he blinked softly, his voice dry and husky. “I’m going to miss you, Wooseok.”

There were a number of ways in which that look and that statement could be interpreted, Wooseok thought. Since he didn’t know which way was the correct one, he became cautious in his response.

“W-What are you saying? Of course there will be a next time. Y-you may test my patience… when we meet in class, in the morning.” Wooseok looked away, his lips sticking out into a pout. “That might happen more than once. I’m not going to miss that.”

“Are you sure? I think you’re going to miss me too.”

Wooseok rolled his eyes and showed his fist as a playful threat, but then, out of the blue, he tumbled backwards onto his bottom and yelped out of shock as a big puff of smoke exploded around the other guy. He coughed and waved his hands about – the smoke was thicker than before and the color was the lightest shade of pastel purple.

“What the—”

No matter how many times it happened, Wooseok thought he’d never get used to witnessing the magical transformation. On the other hand, Seungyoun was unfazed by it; he had expected to be disappointed anyway.

“…Are you sure you’re not controlling the switching?? It’s like you did it on purpose after saying I was going to miss you!”

Wooseok didn’t like the situation. He made up his mind; he was not going to let his guard down and show his vulnerable side to that man, that dog, or whatever he was.

Later, after breaking the news to his parents over breakfast, Wooseok packed up all the dog toys and snacks he had bought for Seungyoun. His mother was quietly shedding tears, watching from behind the kitchen counter as her husband was talking to the dog like a father talking to his own little son.

“Woody, I’m sorry I can’t stay around longer, since I need to go to work… It’s too bad that we didn’t get to spend more time together, but I’m happy we’ve found your owner.” The father knelt down and held Seungyoun’s face, gently lifting his head that had been hung low. “Your owner is a lucky one, isn’t she? After you go back home, don’t forget us, okay? Maybe we will run into each other again someday. You should remember! We are your family too. Wooseokie, Mum, and Dad. At first, we didn’t agree to keep you, but now we really love you… so you can come and play here whenever you want.” The man in a suit gave a fatherly smile and a pat on the dog’s head. “I will go now, okay? Dad loves Woody.”

Seungyoun whimpered, his ears drooping and his tail hanging down between his legs. He hadn’t expected to feel sad to that extent; it felt like saying goodbye to his own father for the second time.

_“I love you too… Dad…”_

Meanwhile, still busy with the pet stuff, Wooseok looked over his shoulder and pouted at them, pretending to sulk. “Dad, you’ve never said you loved me that cutely before.”

The crying mother couldn’t help but laugh at the playful remark. _“_ Aww, our son gets jealous easily… It’s good that he doesn’t have any siblings.”

Laughing, the father approached Wooseok and gave him big pats on the back. “Daddy loves Wooseokie too!”

Wooseok sent his father away with a small wave and a mischievous cringing face.

And so, after countless hugs and kisses from Wooseok’s mother, at last Seungyoun left the house for good – and Wooseok could finally be at ease, as they had successfully passed the farewell without any surprising sudden transformation.

Wooseok decided to stop by the dog park and find an empty spot there, out of anyone’s sight, in case Seungyoun turned back into his normal form. But he didn’t.

Sitting on the grass behind a bush, Wooseok opened the GPS on his phone. “Ah, I forgot to ask for your address…” But then he remembered what his friend had told him. “Our classmate, my friend Hani told me that she saw you around an elite neighbourhood near her place. I guess I know where that is. It’s not far from Yohan’s taekwondo club, is it?”

He typed in an address and showed it to Seungyoun.

_“Oh, that’s right!! That’s where I live!”_ the Shiba barked and moved his head up and down, happy that Wooseok knew and _remembered_ something about him.

Wooseok chuckled. “Of course you can read… And I thought you were a special dog.”

_“I’m… I’m still a special dog! I mean, I’m supposed to be a human, but I’m special when I’m a dog… right?”_

Wooseok grabbed a piece of beef jerky from his bag and stuffed it into the dog’s mouth. “I know you’re trying to say something. Don’t waste your energy, I won’t understand anyway. Just eat that instead.”

Wooseok ordered a pet ride, and they spent their way to Seungyoun’s home feeling an intense level of anxiety because if Seungyoun suddenly switched in the car, things would definitely go downhill from that point – they’d make it on the news. Or even the headlines. That wasn’t exactly the type of fame that Wooseok dreamed of.

But it turned out that Seungyoun stayed the way he was, which confused Wooseok as to how he should feel about it; either relieved or worried. It would be much more convenient if Seungyoun transformed right in front of his mother and explained everything on his own. But if Wooseok was the one to explain, would the woman even listen to him?

“She’ll think I’m batshit crazy for insisting that this dog is her son. Maybe she’ll take me to the clinic too. What happened to that fake Seungyoun anyway? We may end up in a mental asylum together. He’ll grin at me 24/7 and make me go bananas for real. Ah, I’m sacrificing my whole life just to help this kid out. Aren’t I a little too kind?”

Wooseok couldn’t stop being nervous and mumbling to himself while the happy and excited dog led him walking to his home. Seungyoun’s fluffy tail was wagging in anticipation, and the skips in his steps were bouncy and lively. He didn’t seem to have any concerns at all.

_Cute._ Wooseok smiled to himself, holding the leash just a little tighter in his grip. _I guess this is the last time I can feel what it’s like to be your owner and take you on a walk… It was fun while it lasted. You’re right… I’m going to miss you too. As Woody, of course._

The closer they were to Seungyoun’s home, the faster the dog walked, and the sadder Wooseok was. Eventually, they were running instead of walking, and seeing that Seungyoun didn’t even hold back or try to buy some time to spend together a little longer, Wooseok could no longer worry about explaining things to Seungyoun’s mother; he only wanted to cry.

_Why am I suddenly the clingy one now?_

He didn’t even have to think too hard to figure out the answer. It was and had always been the same.

_I’m going to be lonely again… I’m lonely already._

Wooseok had always thought that he might’ve had attachment issues. That was one of the reasons why it was never easy for him to open up to new people; he grew fond of people easily, but if people would leave as easily, why should he let them in in the first place? Wouldn’t that mean he’d be hurting himself? But this particular Shiba had made his own way in somehow, and Wooseok was certain he’d be well screwed if he didn’t quickly shut the front door as soon as this dog stepped back out.

“Wait!”

Wooseok and Seungyoun came to an abrupt halt.

Standing before them, blocking their way was a handsome teenage muscle boy, nervous and out of breath, looking sleep-deprived judging from the dark cricles below his tired eyes.

_“Lee Hangyul!”_ Seungyoun’s excitement was restrained by embarrassment, not knowing yet that his neighbour was the one responsible for his state. _“Whoa, it’s like, the first time I see you come out of your house again since last year… Oh, wait, do you know it’s me…? It seems like you know! Hangyul, help us talk to my mum!”_

Wooseok was flustered seeing the Shiba jump about and bark at the guy in their way.

“Um, yes? Can I help you?” Wooseok asked Hangyul.

Hangyul swallowed thick and looked at Seungyoun with apparent guilt on his face.

“…Please don’t go to his mum. Not yet.”

Seungyoun’s frantic movements and noises stopped altogether. He and Wooseok looked at each other.

Moments later, they found themselves sitting in Hangyul’s living room instead of Seungyoun’s, both gawking so hard while they tried to process the absurd things that the teen boy was telling them.

“Do you go to a wizarding school?” was the first question that Wooseok managed to ask. “Like in Harry Potter?”

Despite looking somewhat calmer then, Hangyul remained on high alert. This situation was not good. Not at all. His father would’ve probably killed him for exposing the existence of wizard world to these two commoners.

“…No. We don’t have such school. It would be too risky, commoners might discover our existence. People would either take advantage of us or go against us.”

Lies; there was one hidden school somewhere in the country, where young magicians like him learned and mastered witchcraft and wizardry. Why didn’t he go to that school? Well, because his very own existence and the inherent, abundant power sealed in him were a known proof of his father’s past rebellious phase, his shame, and thus had to be hidden. His father had taken the role as his teacher instead.

“But… you’re letting us _commoners_ discover your existence right now.” Wooseok was confused. It all seemed like a huge load of nonsense to him, and a part of him suspected Hangyul might start laughing at him soon for naïvely believing everything he said, but apparently this boy was dead serious.

“That’s why you need to keep this a secret. Otherwise, there will be consequences.” Hangyul was sweating profusely while he tried to come up with more made-up nonsense to scare Wooseok and Seungyoun. “Well... My father told my commoner mother that he was a wizard, and later she had to get married with him.”

Wooseok and the Shiba looked at each other wide-eyed. “G-Get married? B-But I don’t want to—“

“That’s why, don’t tell anyone! Or you both will have to marry me.” Hangyul heaved a deep breath, mentally beating himself up into a pulp. _I’m such an idiot... Do I have another butt instead of a brain inside my head?_

At least Dohyon wasn’t there to witness him screw things up.

“O-Okay.” Wooseok sat straight and made a zipping gesture over his closed lips. “Secret is safe. But what about him?” he pointed his chin at Seungyoun. “Can you turn him back to normal?”

Seungyoun looked at Hangyul with expectant puppy eyes, trying his best not to let any negative emotions show; of course he was sad and hurt to find out that his own neighbour was the one who had turned him into a dog, and he wished that Hangyul and Dohyon had talked things out with him instead of changing him into whatever they had initially planned. He had never meant to be such a pain in the ass. It was just that he had expressed his emotions in wrong ways that had irked Dohyon so much. Since they had run into each other multiple times after such long, eventful days, Dohyon had been the only person to whom Seungyoun could’ve poured his feelings out before reaching home and calling it a day.

Still, no matter how hard Seungyoun tried to conceal it, he was just a normal living being with emotions that he couldn’t deny. Seungyoun the Shiba started to cry.

_“You’re not answering... Why are you not answering? Tell me that you can fix me.”_

“It’s so sad whenever he makes those noises and tries to speak,” Wooseok said, caressing Seungyoun’s head. “I’m still not that good at interpreting them, but I think he’s waiting for your answer right now.”

Hangyul couldn’t bring himself to look straight at the dog. He swallowed thick. “I’ve been trying… H-He may turn back to normal for several hours and turn back into a dog for hours as well. My magic… isn’t strong enough at the moment. I’ll keep trying.”

“Can’t you ask your father for help?” Wooseok asked, “Since he’s a… wizard.”

Hangyul thought he couldn’t feel any guiltier than this. Suddenly he felt like he didn’t even deserve to live.

“He… He can’t help right now.”

“Why?”

“B-Because… I… I made the same mistake.”

“Same mistake…? Wait. You turned your father into a dog too??”

“No… a dove. Both my parents. Ten months ago.”

Seungyoun cried harder, and Wooseok was close to passing out.

“Ten months??” Wooseok wasn’t even the victim here, but somehow he felt just as terrible as Seungyoun did. “What have you been doing all those ten months?? Is Seungyoun going to stay like this for ten months too? Are you even sure you can fix this?”

Despite having a well-built body, Hangyul was soft at heart. Getting scolded made him want to cry.

“I—I was too scared, I stopped using my magic for months after that incident… Although I’ve been practicing again in these past two months, it’s still hard to control and bring my power out again... But I promise I’m getting better. I could keep Seungyoun hyung in his normal form for several hours… next time it should be longer.”

“No, why don’t you try it on your parents instead?” Wooseok suggested, somewhat irritated. “Although it lasts only for several hours, that should be enough time for your father to fix everything.”

This time, at last Hangyul shed desperate tears that he could no longer keep in, though he promptly wiped them away.

“I’m sorry for being selfish… but I need to fix my own mistake. I want to fix this before my parents can see all this mess. If my father finds out… I’ll definitely face a tough punishment.”

He wasn’t ready to face his father’s wrath. He remembered what tha man had told him when he had been younger; he was born with a power so big that someday it would be unbeatable if he could develop and master everything in its ability, but if he failed to use it for only good purposes, his father would definitely find a way to obliterate that power and make him live as a commoner.

“I want to keep living with this power.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty selfish.” Wooseok blurted out his honest thought and rolled his eyes. He hadn’t expected to find someone who could be more selfish than himself. “What’s your plan then?”

“I’ve been thinking since last night,” Hangyul said, “if Seungyoun hyung switches every several hours, he can stay here with me and my younger brother instead. When he’s in his normal form, he can go and see his mum, and when he’s a dog, he should come back here and my puppy Baegi will replace him if necessary. I will keep trying to fix him while he’s here.”

Hangyul had also told them about Baegi and the illusion earlier. It then made sense to Wooseok why Seungyoun’s doppelganger was abnormally smiley; because he was a _real_ smiley dog.

_“I’d rather stay with Wooseokie if I still can’t stay with my mum.”_ Seungyoun whimpered.

Surprisingly, Wooseok found himself thinking the same. “That’s too bad. I thought he’d be able to go back and stay with his mum today if we could explain this to her.” _He could’ve stayed with me a bit longer, though._

Hangyul let out a long, troubled sigh. “I’m really sorry.”

Then, from the side window, he saw a certain white car come out of the house next door.

“Seungyoun hyung’s mum is leaving.” He pointed at the car. “Baegi should come out soon.”

Excited by the mention of his mother, Seungyoun stood on his hind legs in the sofa and rested his front paws on the window sill, his tongue rolling out and his eyes wide and sparkly. Wooseok found the sight both sad and adorable.

Out of the blue, he asked, “Has Seungyoun’s father left for work?”

Hangyul tensed up and promptly looked at the Shiba with wide eyes. Still gazing out the window, Seungyoun’s smile disappeared for a brief second, though it quickly returned when he saw his mother’s hand reach out of the car’s window and wave at the smiley guy standing at the gate.

“Um… Seungyoun hyung only has his mother.” Hangyul shifted uncomfortably in his seat and cleared his throat. “His father passed away a few years ago.”

Wooseok was completely taken by surprise. Guilt was clearly written all over his face.

“Ah…” he turned his body completely facing the dog next to him. “S-Seungyoun, I’m sorry for asking.”

_“It’s okay, Wooseokie.”_ The bright brown eyes narrowed into a gentle, affectionate eye smile as he panted softly. _“You didn’t know.”_

Wooseok remained guilt-ridden even when Seungyoun’s mother had left and Baegi was making his way to them.

_You seem like a happy and carefree person, but there’s so much sadness you_ keep _behind it…_

He remembered what Seungyoun had said to him the previous night.

_“I’m the unluckiest person in the world…” “Just like you, I’m lonely too…”_

While he was busy feeling bad for Seungyoun, Hangyul went closer to the window and did a little demonstration of his magic; he closed the gate that Baegi had left open.

_“W-Whoa!”_ Seungyoun’s mouth fell open in awe. _“Wooseokie, did you see that?? My house’s gate closed on its own! Hangyul can really do magic!! So awesome!”_

Wooseok didn’t see it. He was looking down at his fingers.

Hangyul sat back down in the sofa and held his hand out towards the front door. The said door opened, making way for the fake Seungyoun to come in. The tall smiley guy immediately ran towards Hangyul, jumped high, and landed right in his lap, knocking the air out of him. It wasn’t long until he started showering Hangyul’s face with thirsty licks.

Wooseok and Seungyoun gawked in horror.

_“….AAAAAHHH MY EYES!”_ the Shiba tried to hide his head behind Wooseok’s back. _“WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS?? I’VE JUST WATCHED MYSELF LICKING MY NEIGHBOUR IN THE FACE!!”_

“Baegi, behave! We have guests here,” Hangyul said.

Baegi hopped off of his owner’s lap immediately and sat on the floor like the good boy he was. Only when Hangyul had removed the illusion did Wooseok and Seungyoun let their guard down. The thrill was close to that of being in the same room with a serial murderer.

“Oh… That was amazing.” Wooseok couldn’t help but smile seeing the smiley Corgi pup wiggling about and approaching them. “He looks way less annoying in this form.”

Seungyoun found the puppy adorable as well, but he stayed seated in the sofa and refrained from initiating any interaction, recalling the last butt sniff with Alice the black Shiba at the dog park.

An idea suddenly popped out in Wooseok’s mind, once his logic began to work.

“The illusion… It doesn’t seem limited to what we see, though? You can touch and feel his body parts too, and he seemed just as heavy as a real human when he jumped on you,” Wooseok thought out loud.

“Yes,” Hangyul nodded, “because the spell works not on Baegi, but on the minds of the people who see him. It doesn’t actually change anything on him, unlike the spell that I casted on Seungyoun hyung. But when you see Baegi, the spell makes you believe that he’s a human, with regular human’s phyical traits including his weight too.”

“Then… you can use that spell instead, can’t you? To make Seungyoun look like himself,” Wooseok said matter-of-factly, in a way that made Hangyul feel like a moron.

“Well,” Hangyul cleared his throat and attempted to put on a wise look, “that may solve a few problems, yes, but not the main problem. While he can probably continue living his daily life and meet people around him, he’ll still be a dog inside.” And suddenly he remembered his parents’ condition after he had left them in the form of birds for too long. “And… if we let that continue to happen… Let’s say, eventually he’ll lose his true identity as a human and start behaving like a real, pure dog. I guess… he has showed that sign? At least once?”

Hangyul tried not to be too obvious. He didn’t want to break it to them that he had been spying on them too.

_“More than once!! And that’s embarrassing!!”_ Seungyoun just wanted to die whenever he recalled the moments he had lost himself. And now, Hangyul was telling him that he might lose himself _permanently_.

“Um… yes, he h-humped me once. I don’t think he was in the right mind.” Wooseok’s ears reddened. _Unless he was taking advantages…_

_“Just kill me now…”_ the poor embarrassed Shiba lay flat in the sofa and covered his eyes with his paw.

“Exactly, things like that will happen,” Hangyul said, somewhat proud that he could prove a point. “Moreover… When he’s a dog, just like Baegi, he can’t speak even though the human illusion is active. Then, when the natural dog instinct kicks in, he may end up embarrassing himself… because unlike Baegi, he’s not controlled and restrained under the good boy spell. Have I told you about that part? Baegi used to be the naughtiest, but with magic, he’s become an intelligent dog that understands and obeys everything I tell him. But in Seungyoun hyung’s case… well… that spell turned him into a smart dog instead. I-I don’t know what went wrong. Maybe it was because I practiced on a dog… But the point is, he may break loose and do some dog stuff when he loses himself, and it wouldn’t be fun to watch when the illusion is active. Just like what Baegi did to me just now. So… I say it’d be better for Seungyoun hyung to stay here with me and not go anywhere for the meantime.”

Wooseok wasn’t too happy with the suggestion, for some reasons he himself didn’t know.

“How long is ‘for the meantime’? He needs to go to school. He’s skipped classes for four days straight, and today will make it five if he skips again. His friends are worried about him and he’ll fail this semester if he stays absent.”

Why did he care that much anyway? Wooseok himself had no idea.

Obviously, Hangyul had no answer to the argument. He couldn’t promise anything, hence why he had no choice but to compromise when Wooseok tried to bargain.

“We have a class this afternoon. Until then, if you don’t mind, I’ll stay here and see if he’ll turn back to normal. If he does, I’ll take him to our class, and if he doesn’t, you’ll try that illusion thing on him and then I’ll take him to our class. How about that? I promise I’ll return him back here as soon as we’re done. Don’t worry about him breaking loose, I’ll keep an eye on him... We can sit together if necessary. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I want to sit with him, this is just to convince you to let him go. You shouldn’t make him fail his classes. Not that I care, but that wouldn’t be nice of you to make things worse for him.”

_You definitely care,_ Hangyul thought.

Seungyoun thought so. Well, he _felt_ so.

_“Wooseokie...”_ he was touched. _“Yes... stay here with me, please.”_ Then that he could truly feel that Wooseok cared about him, all he wanted was just to spend as much time as he could together with Wooseok.

Fortunately for them, this time Hangyul was _smart_ enough to let them have their way.

* * *

Wooseok had never hated going home so much before. Nonetheless, this was exactly what he was feeling at the moment; walking home, knowing that things wouldn’t be the same as they had been when he had left that morning. Walking in, just to find that something was missing. A significant presence was missing, and it felt like the aftertaste of his favourite coffee; it was bitter, but for some reasons he liked that bitterness, and thus he wanted more of it.

Adding fuel to the flames, he locked himself up in his room, stuffed his earphones in his ears, and proceeded to sink in his melancholic playlist of old Korean ballad songs while summoning the memories of a particular smiley dog that he had been sharing his bed with in the past one week.

The bed had never felt so big before.

“...Woody...”

He cried.

Earlier that day, everything had gone much better than expected; Seungyoun had turned back to normal just an hour before their class, and had returned into his dog form right after they had arrived back at Hangyul’s place. No embarrassing incidents had taken place. From their observation that day, they concluded that then Seungyoun would probably switch every six hours; at seven in the morning, he had turned into Woody, then at one in the afternoon, he had become normal again, and later at seven in the evening, he had been back into a Shiba. If their hypothesis was correct, he’d return to his normal form again later at 1:00 AM. An hour past midnight. It’d be Dohyon’s turn to stay up and watch over him, since Hangyul was already terribly sleep-deprived.

Wooseok looked at the clock on the bedside table. 9:00 PM; There were four hours to go. He breathed out a restless sigh.

Seungyoun had promised to text him as soon as he transformed again. Yes, not only that they and their groups had awkwardly sat together in class, but also they had started texting too, in class, while they had been sitting next to each other. Seungyoun had initiated it, of course, after finding Wooseok’s contact from their class’ group chat.

Wooseok didn’t know what urged him, but he opened and re-read their long chat again, which mostly consisted of Seungyoun’s messages and very little from himself.

**_Cho Seungyoun_ **

_Kim Wooseok!!_

_Why suddenly..._

_I’m sitting next to you._

**_Cho Seungyoun_ **

_Nothing! Hehe_

_Just letting you know that we can text each other_

_Since I’ve got my phone back from Hangyulie :D_

_Ok._

_Congrats._

**_Cho Seungyoun_ **

_Wow you’re a cold texter :(_

_Aren’t you happy to text me?_

_Show some emotions!!_

_:)_

🙄

**_Cho Seungyoun_ **

_Ah okay I understand..._

_You must be shy, right? Because it’s our first time!_

_First time texting someone can make you nervous_

_(shy peach sticker)_

_I’m not shy and nervous_

_Just focusing on the lecture_

_Shut up_

**_Cho Seungyoun_ **

_Hehe anyways_ 👉👈

_If I turn back into Woody later..._

_And if I turn back to normal after that, I’ll let you know!_

_I’ll text you as soon as I transform ^^_

_Why would you tell me?_

_I’m not your mum_

**_Cho Seungyoun_ **

_Not my mum, but you were my owner once!_

_I’m your Woody~ and you’ll be missing your Woody :(_

_Lol just kidding!_

_I know you’ll be waiting for my text anyway_ 😉

_Whatever..._

_🔪_

**_Cho Seungyoun_ **

_Hahahaha_

_Ah I know Wooseokie is actually a sweet person!_

_Woody has seen it all! woof woof~_

_I’ll wait until you can show me that side too :)_

_Btw thanks for taking care of me, Wooseok..._

_You even bought me toys and snacks!_

_I’ll find a way to pay you back, promise_

_Tell your parents that Woody misses them :(_

_Ok._

**_Cho Seungyoun_ **

_Aaahhh I wish I could live with Wooseokie instead..._

_Everything was perfect when I lived with you_ _ㅠㅠㅠㅠ_

_It’s not that I don’t like living with Hangyulie and Dohyonie!_

_I’ve lived close to them for years, I see them often_

_But my time with you was so short_ _ㅠㅠ_

_You can’t stay with me_

_It doesn’t feel right_

_Don’t wanna explain to my parents too_

**_Cho Seungyoun_ **

_Why does it sound like we’re breaking up? :(_

_I know you’ll prolly say “There’s nothing to break”_

_But I’m just kidding hehe_

_Unless..._ 👉👈

_There’s nothing to break._

**_Cho Seungyoun_ **

_I’m just kidding!!_

_(crying lion sticker)_

Contrary to his emotionless replies, Wooseok had been holding back his smile all the while he had been texting this one silly guy. Seungyoun had obviously noticed it, hence why he hadn’t backed down despite the short replies. And now, too, Wooseok was smiling. Something in the way Seungyoun texted him sort of reminded him of Yohan, in the sense that both of them were chatty, cheerful, puppy-like, even sometimes flirty in a mischievous and playful way. But they were definitely _not_ the same in many other aspects, Wooseok thought. For some reasons he felt like Seungyoun had so much hidden behind this bright outer look; not just the emotions and melancholy that ran deep to the depths beyond what Yohan’s child-like simplicity could reach, but also a hidden _want_ and desire that sometimes showed in his gaze. Want and desire for what exactly, Wooseok wasn’t sure. He didn’t even know what kind of person Seungyoun really was. Since he had gotten the wrong idea of him all this time, he had to start over and shape a new, correct image of Cho Seungyoun in his mind.

For the meantime, Wooseok would just see him as a fellow lonely guy, as Seungyoun himself had admitted, which probably meant they wanted similar things; some attention and a companion to be clingy to. Although Wooseok would never put it that way. He had a cool image and he’d like to keep it that way.

One thing Wooseok had noticed, Seungyoun had his own various ways of seeking attention. Being loud was the most obvious one, of course, but there was another one that Wooseok had just discovered; being secretive while at the same time intentionally giving hints, not enough to spill the beans, yet more than enough to make people curious.

Earlier that afternoon, Seungyoun hadn’t talked much in class. Even when his friends had bombarded him with questions, he had simply and cheerfully responded, “I was just _really_ sick, that’s all!” and for the rest of the time, he had been busy grinning at his phone. He hadn’t even tried to be discreet in the slightest. Instead, he had made it so obvious, and moreover his friends and Wooseok’s weren’t blind either; they had been awaee of those two texting each other.

Seungyoun’s male friend had sneakily asked, “Did you find a lover?” half joking, referring to Wooseok.

And he had answered with a mischievous smile, “Not a lover, but an owner.”

And his friends had been shaken by their own misinterpretation. “Holy shi— Are you a sugar baby now??”

And that was how both Seungyoun and Wooseok’s group of friends had started to suspect something going on between them. Something _weird,_ to say the least.

Wooseok wasn’t sure how he felt about it, about the little _game_ that Seungyoun was playing. One thing for sure, he was too lazy to clear the misunderstanding, just as much as Seungyoun was, though for different reasons; Wooseok just couldn’t be bothered to waste his energy speaking about something so silly, while Seungyoun... well, he _liked_ the misunderstanding, since he had started it himself, so he’d just let others think what they wanted to think. Perhaps he had gotten used to living a life full of misunderstanding, he wasn’t fazed by it anymore. He could even use it for fun then.

But then, Wooseok was the one who wasn’t used to it. Reading the chat again, he felt something different; he wondered if Seungyoun had truly meant what he had said. His eyes were then pinned on two particular lines.

_I wish I could live with Wooseokie instead… Everything was perfect when I lived with you._

Seungyoun had made it sound like they were close, while in fact it had only been a day since Wooseok had decided to open up _a little_ and give it a shot to get to know each other. Perhaps it was a common trait of a social butterfly; he kept things progressing in his pace so comfortably, while on the contrary, Wooseok felt somewhat like being dragged by the pace. He had never developed a friendship – or any kind of relationship – so quickly before. Those words meant something special to him, they made him feel like he was capable of making someone happy while living together, while on the other hand, they had come out so easily from Seungyoun, so easily that Wooseok wondered if it was meant as a joke. Maybe he didn’t actually wish to live together with him? As always, the typical Wooseok and his excessive overthinking.

_But what if I play along?_

Wooseok couldn’t help but wonder how that _game_ would progress. The thought that was swirling in his mind then got him thrilled for some reasons. What if he tried something new? That silly guy made him want to try something new.Anything to get him out of the silence and loneliness in his life.

Out of the blue, Wooseok slid off his bed and rushed to his laptop that hadn’t been properly shut down. He opened the browser, and the first thing that showed up was a list of available apartments close to his campus. Having to choose a place to live and make a decision felt like a big responsibility that really burdened him – Wooseok wasn’t exactly the best at choosing things.

_No, I need to make a decision tonight!_

He was determined. If he had his own place to live, the freedom that came with it would definitely have so much to offer – probably just as much as ‘getting to know Cho Seungyoun’ had to offer. Right, earlier he had believed that it would be best to shut the door as soon as the dog walked out and left him to continue living a lonely life, but now he thought; _why don’t I get rid of the door instead?_ If he had his own space and let Seungyoun in any time he could and wanted to, sure, maybe due to some reasons Seungyoun still wouldn’t be able to stay there all the time and chase away his loneliness, but his gut told him that this Shiba guy was going to be around more often than not anyway, if there was nothing blocking his way – like Wooseok’s parents, for example, who might find out that Woody was actually a human.

Now, why did he suddenly want to have Seungyoun around? Well, Wooseok just didn’t want to be lonely. After his Woody had left, he realized more than ever how lonely he really was, and despite being a true introvert who would choose staying home over going out any day, still he needed a companion while being home. A new companion who could bring new things. For that purpose, there was no doubt that Cho Seungyoun had so many new things in store to bring into his life… even if it all was just a _game_ to him.

But first things first, Wooseok wanted to make sure if Seungyoun was still up for his own game. If it turned out that he wasn’t, if he didn’t even actually want to meet him _that much_ outside school, wouldn’t it hurt Wooseok’s pride a little? It’d be like a one-sided feeling. Not that he literally had feelings, no, of course not, they were just classmates. Or a Youtuber and his regular viewer. Yup, he thought so.

Wooseok stayed on his laptop and listened to some music to help him stay up past midnight. He couldn’t help but look at the clock and check his chatting app time and time again, anticipating a new message telling him that Woody the Shiba had transformed back into Cho Seungyoun. If Seungyoun kept his promise to text him, surely he mattered at least a little bit to him, right?

_Let’s see if you’ll keep your words…_

Wooseok could almost hear Seungyoun’s voice saying, _“I know you’ll be waiting for my text anyway!”_ and he snorted and smirked imagining the Shiba guy tease him with a naughty wink.

“Don’t let it go to your head, Cho Seungyoun. I just want to see what kind of person you are.”

He’d never let Seungyoun win, apparently.

Five minutes to one, Wooseok checked his phone like an anxious pregnant housewife waiting for a call from her missing husband. When the long arm on the clock struck twelve and no single new message was coming, he started to panic a little. 1:05 AM and still no new messages, he felt betrayed and disappointed.

_Maybe he was just joking when he said he’d text me... Or is it because I replied coldly? He was supposed to turn back to normal five minutes ago, right? He could’ve texted me four or three or two or one minute ago if he had really meant it._

Wooseok was dying to know if Seungyoun had really transformed, but he didn’t want to text first. Seungyoun would definitely rub it in his face if he dropped his ego like that. Pouting, Wooseok slammed his laptop shut, turned off the lights, and climbed back into his bed.

“I could’ve gone to bed hours ago.” He sighed, curling under the blanket. “Whatever, I don’t need him...”

He dismissed his blue feeling and rested his tired eyes.

1:15 AM, Wooseok’s phone buzzed multiple times in one go. His eyes popped open wide as he promptly snatched the phone from the bedside table and checked the notifications.

“...You’re fifteen minutes late.”

Restraining a happy smile, Wooseok opened the chat. New messages continued to come in.

**_Cho Seungyoun_ **

_Kim Wooseok!!_

_I’ve turned back to normal!_

_Did you wait for my text?_

_I’m fifteen minutes late, I’m sorry!_

_Are you asleep? I guess you are..._

_You’re not reading my texts :(_

_Kiiiiimm Woooooooseoooook_

_Kim_

_Woo_

_Seok_

_Wake up!!_

_Ah you’re awake! I see you’ve read my texts!_

_Hehe that’s a relief_ 👉👈

_I was doing something... it’s actually a secret_

_But do you want to know?_

_I’ll let you know if you want to_ 😉

_It’s good that you’re awake_

_Maybe you can give me a hand here..._

_Ah but at this hour..._

_Guess you won’t do me any favour_ ☹️

Wooseok raised an eyebrow, sensing that the other was about to do or say something stupid.

He didn’t know why he had to gulp nervously when he replied, _“What were you doing? What favour?”_

Seungyoun read his reply immediately, but it wasn’t until three minutes later did he answer him.

**_Cho Seungyoun_ **

_I was heading to your place!_

_Now I’m outside your front door_

_And the favour is, would you open the door for me?_

Wooseok’s heart made a leap in his chest. _For real?? That can’t be!_ He thought. But before he knew it, his feet had brought him rushing out of his room and to the front door.

And the moment he threw the door open, his eyes were blessed by the sight of his tall and handsome classmate, grinning, sweating and panting like he had just run across the city.

But the problem was...

He wasn’t wearing anything.

“Kim Wooseok!!”

Seungyoun charged forward and engulfed Wooseok in a bone-crushing hug.

“...Ah... You’re naked... Aahhhhh don’t touch me!!!”

Wooseok jolted up to a straight sitting position, eyes wide and heart racing. He snapped his head side to side and slowly realized that he was still in his room, in his bed; it was all just a dream. He had dreamt of Seungyoun texting him and running to his house buttnaked.

Wooseok let out an agonizing whine as he dropped himself back and smashed his limbs onto the mattress.

“What is wrong with me?!”

Then, his phone buzzed on the bedside table. He froze up.

“...Is this still a dream? Am I going to see a naked guy at my door again?”

When his phone continued to buzz, he finally realized that it wasn’t a new message notification; it was an incoming call. A phone call at 1:45 AM.

“This dream is probably going to be more extreme...” Wooseok sat up and hesitantly took his phone. Seeing Seungyoun’s name as the caller ID, he braced himself for another chaos as he clumsily tapped the answer button and brought the phone to his ear.

“He-Hello?”

A blow of heavy breath was heard, followed by a quiet chuckle at the other end of the line. Then came a groggy, deep, husky voice that sounded totally different from the usual high-pitched voice that Wooseok knew.

_“Wooseok... Did I wake you up?”_

_In a way, yes, you did..._ Wooseok gulped. “N-No. I had been awake before you called.”

_“Mmm... Were you waiting for my text?”_ A rustling sound could be heard in the background, the sound of the bed’s sheets as Seungyoun shifted and changed position.

“W-Why would I?” Wooseok pouted, playing with the seam of his blanket. “And why calling me instead of texting? I could’ve been asleep.”

Seungyoun chuckled. _“I’ve just woken up... Too sleepy to type. I fell asleep so I couldn’t text you. Well, good to know that you weren’t waiting... I’d feel guilty otherwise. But still, sorry for not keeping my words. You know I’m a sleepyhead, right?”_

Wooseok thought the apology wasn’t really necessary, but it actually made him feel a lot better. He could smile again.

“Yeah, you are.”

_“Well... It feels different sleeping here. I always slept alone at home, but staying with you made me get used to sleeping with someone next to me. Is it just me? Or... do you feel that way too?”_

Wooseok wasn’t sure if he should be honest. Perhaps being vague would do. “Hm... Kinda feels different. But of course it’d feel different. I have bigger space in my bed now.”

Seungyoun chuckled again. _“Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I don’t think it’s good for a lonely person.”_

He hit the nail on the head. Feeling sad, Wooseok lay back down on his side and hugged his pillow.

_“I don’t know if you like it better that way... but I like having someone next to me.”_

Wooseok was stunned by the other’s honesty. He kind of envied him; how could he speak out his feelings so easily?

_“It’s even nicer when that someone is a person you admire. At first I felt like your luckiest fan, since I like you as a Youtuber... then I stopped seeing it that way. You’re just nice and comfortable to be around as a person, so... who you are doesn’t really matter anymore.”_

_Why is he sweet-talking now?_ Wooseok became shy.

_“Ah... The feeling when you get something good in life for once, then you can’t get it anymore... Wouldn’t that make you wanna try anything to get it again?”_

“It sounds like you’re talking about drugs.” Wooseok smiled and rolled his eyes.

_“Mhmm... Kinda makes sense. You’re right, it’s like a drug. A happy pill.”_ Seungyoun yawned. _“My friends call me a happy virus sometimes, but I guess I still need a happy pill from time to time. While living with you, it was like, I took a dose of those pills on a daily basis. Addicting... Now I want more.”_

“That’s a huge load of nonsense.” Wooseok sounded indifferent, but the smile on his face couldn’t get any bigger. “Are you trying to flirt? Cut it off, it’s corny.”

Seungyoun’s voice still sounded hoarse when he let out a small laugh.

_“I’m sorry... I just feel a little sad here. If I really can’t go back to live with my mum until everything is fixed, I wish I could stay with you instead.”_

There, he had said it for the second time. It should be enough of a confirmation to assure Wooseok, right? Even how serious he sounded then got Wooseok to think, what if it wasn’t even a _game_ at all to Seungyoun? Not a seeking attention game to make his friends curious and mislead them into thinking there was something going on between them, but instead just his genuine need of a closer companion and nothing else, like what it was to Wooseok himself?

It should be enough confirmation, but no confirmation would be enough to Wooseok if it wasn’t made as clear as the sky.

So with fingers crossed, he asked, “Do you… really mean it?”

_“Hm? Mean what?”_

“That you… want to stay with me.”

_“…Of course I want! But I can’t go back to your house, can I?? First, I’ve said goodbye to your parents, then it’ll be hard if I keep switching around your them, and besides, Hangyul wouldn’t allow me either! He couldn’t even use his magic today, but he’s keeping me here, why is that? Because there’s no other safe place where I can hide, he said. After he put the illusion thing on me and let me see my mum for a while, it was like he ran out of magic like a car running out of gas! Does that even make sense? It’s so gloomy here, these two kids seem so stressed out all the time, I’d run to your place if I could!”_

_“_ …You did run to my place,” Wooseok mumbled. _In my dream._

_“…Huh? When did I—??”_

“N-Nevermind. I’m going to sleep now. You should go to sleep too.”

The last confirmation that had come out in form of a long rant was certainly more than enough this time. After ending the call rather abruptly, Wooseok remained wide awake in the next one hour due to the anticipation and excitement bubbling in the pit of his stomach. He could barely wait for the morning to come.

And when the anticipated, beautiful Saturday morning finally came, the nineteen-year-old who was still in his pajamas and messy bed hair was quick to rush out of his room and find his parents having breakfast at the dining table. The middle-aged couple greeted him with a calm smile.

“Our Wooseokie is up early,” said the mother. “What’s the occasion?”

“Mum, Dad… I’ve made up my mind.”

_This is it. This is the big step._ The determination was solid in Wooseok’s eyes.

“Can I move out next week?”

He was _that_ determined.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, now we have 5 chapters and we've hit 500 views and 50 kudos so thank you so much for the love!
> 
> Finally there was a positive development in Wooseok and Seungyoun's 'relationship' lol they had just started over but Wooseok was already thinking too much 😔 can you tell that he was quite desperate? One time he doubted everything and next time he wanted to rush everything... well if he wanted to move out soon, then that's what he'd get heheh gonna be a bit more private there 😏
> 
> tbh i'm holding back so much writing this fic because unlike how it's progressing now, they've gone a lot further and wilder in my mind lmao but let's be more rational with the plot 😇
> 
> Now that Wooseok would possibly be around Seungyoun more often, since Seungyoun was an unlucky person, would his bad luck rub off on Wooseok? Would everything go smoothly in their process of getting to know each other, or would they face obstacles, like a certain sorcerer boy who might get in their way and make things more "fun" for them? Would Hangyul finally do something right or continue to screw things up? Find the answers in the next chapter, so please wait for it!
> 
> Once again thanks for reading this story! Hope you enjoyed it, feel free to tell me what you think :D


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